


Diamonds (A Steven Universe/Heathers the Musical Crossover) *Because we needed one

by JoyHeart



Category: Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Humor, F/F, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, Murder, Musical, Not Canon Compliant, Out of Character, Some sexy times, Theres a body count, call this just a heathers/gem world hybrid, i am not trying to be serious, i know none of this could have possibly happened in the show canon, i know they are out of character, i was trying to be serious but it got serious ok, this gets dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-01-16 07:58:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 55,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12338616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyHeart/pseuds/JoyHeart
Summary: Yes, this is Steven Universe/Heathers The Musical crossover/alternate universe fanfiction. Yes, we needed one.Rose Quartz is just your average gem in the earth hierarchy, trying to find her place in a world that seems perfect but really isn't. After falling into the good graces of the Diamonds, she quickly realizes just how corrupt even the most seemingly flawless gems really are. She eventually finds herself drawn to a rather unique Pearl who comes up with her own ways to fight the establishment. But as much as she wants this world to change, is Rose willing to go as far as murder?





	1. Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> Everything in italics is sung.
> 
> The first song is to the tune of Beautiful, from Heathers: The Musical, easily found on youtube.
> 
> I love this musical. I don't know why I thought this fanfic was a good idea, but here we are. Hope someone else likes it too. At least I know literally no one else has executed this idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is not Heathers the Musical with gems taking the roles of the characters.
> 
> This fic not meant to be in any way Steven Universe canon compliant.
> 
> This is... sort of a weird hybrid Steven Universe plot/Heathers plot with parodied Heathers songs in it. It's just weird. Read it.

**In the ever-expanding, glorious city colonizing the distant little planet of organic life called Earth, there are many gems of all sorts living together in harmony. The Peridots happily build and run machines to plant and grow new gems. The Bismuths joyfully construct buildings for aristocratic gems like Sapphires and Aquamarines to walk through. The many Quartz soldiers of different branches live together in perfect comradery, training and sparring with each other to keep their minds and weapons sharp and ready to defend their beloved home and community at all costs. Truly, the gem colony of Earth is as much a utopia of peace and co-operation as every other gem society in the galaxy, and it is ruled by the Incredible, Flawless, Debonair, Fantastical, Shining, Aspiring, Glowing, Next-In-Line-For-Homeworld-Because-White-Diamond-Likes-To-Cause-Drama-But-Is-Still-A-Beacon-Of-Virtue, Pink Diamond.**

            “Has this author even BEEN here?” Rose Quartz crumpled the ‘required reading’ pamphlet into a ball and threw it unceremoniously onto the ground, only for a grumbling, short, and dusty coloured Scaphite to descend upon it and vaporize it with her eye lasers. Which is not exactly what Scaphite are meant for vaporizing, they were usually used to smooth out land for new buildings, but they were easily re-appropriated as litter destroyers too.

            Rose Quartz looked up at the sky amid a crowd of gems swirling around her on the streets of First Earth City, none of them paying attention to her, just another Quartz soldier meant to ‘keep the peace’ and ‘be ready to defend at the first sign of danger’. Mostly, it was a boring job. Being a Quartz made more for Pink Diamond’s image than her army, the more useful Amethysts and Jaspers would often try to mess around with her and the other Rose Quartz guardians, at least the ones that knew they could get away with taunting.

            Rose Quartz began muttering to herself, and no one around her noticed. “The Fifteenth Year of my creation in The Radiant Pink Diamond’s Earth Colony. I believe I'm a good soldier. You know, I think all gems are created to be good. Yet, here I am in the fifteenth year of my service to Pink Diamond’s reign. I look around at all these gems I've known me entire existence and I ask myself: Why are things this way?”

            The sharp words and insults flung casually and violently around Rose on the street sounded like a chorus. _“Freak!” “Fuser!” “Useless!” “Wrong!” “Runt!” “Cracked!”_

            Rose groaned and looked back at the sky. It was overcast that day. She began to sing, softly, then a bit louder. _“We were so tiny, happy and shiny, warm in the ground, born together.”_

            “ _Freak!” “Fuser!” “Loser!” “Off-colour!”_

            Rose closed her eyes, remembering her first hours in the Kindergarten, waiting for the other Quartz to be born around her. _“We burst forth singing! Laughing and clapping! Trying out powers, taking our place.”_

           

**_“_ ** _Too dark!” “Too light!” “Lumpy!”_

            Rose began to walk along the street where she normally patrolled, and the gems she passed by pushed and shoved each other to get where they needed to go, always on the move, and the big ones always knocked aside the small.

            _“Then we learned status_ _. That was what failed us. We lost respect for those beneath.”_ Rose bumped into another Scaphite in the middle of her song. “Sorry!” She said hurriedly, but the Scaphite merely stumbled and hurried off without a word. Rose sighed. _“Here is planet Earth. This is no colony._ _It’s where our passions seethe. Hold your tongue, and count the days, Eternity to come.”_

 _“Servant!”_ Rose watched an Aquamarine give her Pearl a kick to the back of the head and winced.

            Rose sighed, remembering there was still a way out of this, of course. _“Work at The Zoo is paradise_ _. I’ll be transferred there one day.”_ Rose groaned at the misery she saw around her. _“But I know, I know, life can be beautiful. I pray, I pray for a better way. If humans change each day, maybe we can change our ways. We can be beautiful...”_

            Rose stopped as she saw a bulky Amethyst knock a Peridot to the ground and walked off laughing. Rose winced. “ _Just not today._ ” She hurried over the Peridot and lifted her effortlessly onto her feet. The Peridot flushed green and dusted herself off. “Hey, are you okay?”

            The Peridot frowned. “I’m very busy! Excuse me!” And off she ran.

_“Freak!” “Brown-nose!” “Cracked!” “Fuser!” “Fuser!” “Fuser!”_

Rose continued on her own way. _“Things will get better,_ _soon as my letter comes from The Zoo in distant space… Wake from this nightmare, get away from here and start over in a new place. Dream of lovely garden rooms, and cute, happy humans at play…”_

Rose stumbled as a familiar, beefy Jasper bumped into her.

“Watch it!” The Jasper snapped.

“ _Fight the urge to strike a match and set this dump ablaze!”_ Rose sang softly through gritted teeth as Jasper curled into a ball and nyoomed by, knocking up mud onto Rose’s white dress. She grumbled to herself as the Jasper began doing laps of the city square. Disgraceful.

Rose folded her arms, continuing her muttered monologue. “Jasper Facet 139-C, Cut 53-A. Third year as part of Pink Diamond’s personal guard. And eighth year of making messes and NOT RESPECTING PERSONAL SPACE.”

Jasper froze mid-roll, uncurled, and towered beside Rose, looking down her nose at her. Her gem gleamed on her right shoulder. “What did you say to me, shield-wench?”

“N-nothing,” Rose looked away until the Jasper snorted and left. She sighed yet again and continued to sing. Around her, she thought she could hear other gems singing with her, though that was probably her imagination. _“But I know, I know, I know... Life can be beautiful. I pray, I pray, I pray for a better way. We were kind before; we can be kind once more. We can be beautiful...”_  
  
            “Rose!”

Rose’s head jerked left at the sound of a familiar voice and set of heavy footsteps running toward her. The Rose Quartz gem that tackled her into a hug was a little different than most. Her gem was a little elongated, though in the same place as Rose’s, and her entire form was a little shorter and fatter than most of their kind, and her hair was just a smidge lighter than Rose’s. She was off-colour, sure, but close enough to a ‘normal’ Rose Quartz that she was deemed useful, and not shattered at birth.

Rose swung the new Rose Quartz around in her arms. “HA! Hey, Rosey!”

“Hey!” Rosey giggled as Rose settled her back on her feet where she bounced on her heels. Rose helped Rosey brush some dirt off her dress. Rosey was officially Rose Quartz Facet 102-E, Cut 22-B. She had been Rose’s best friend since the two had emerged from the Earth together, side by side. Rosey grinned. “Are we on to watch the sunset over the Ocean again tonight?”

Rose laughed. “Yes, and you’re on avoid-the-watchful-eye-of-our-superiors detail.”

“Heh, yes…” Rosey blushed, “I tried to invite some Jaspers this time, but…”

Rose groaned. Rosey was too soft hearted sometimes, really. “Again? You know that no Jaspers have ever had any interest in the small beauties of Earth, stick to the off-colour Amethysts.”                    

            Rosey shrugged. “What can I say? I guess I just think I can get through to them, given enough time…”

            The two were interrupted by a loud burp as a big muscular purple arm barrelled between them and knocked Rosey off her feet into a mud puddle. “HEEEEEY ROSEY! WIDE LOAD! HONNNNNK!”

            Rose frowned sharply. She knew this Amethyst, Facet 269-P, Cut 48-J. She was personal body guard to Pink Diamond, though how exactly she didn’t get shattered from constantly being AWOL was a mystery. “Hey! Cut that out!” Rose snapped as the Amethyst kicked a little extra mud on Rosey as she struggled to get to her feet.

            The Amethyst drew herself up to full height and towered over Rose by a few inches. “I’m sorry, but like, are you actually talking to me?”

            Rose narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I am. I want to know what gives you the right to pick on my friend. You’re a shatter-story waiting to happen. Future jewellery for the high-ups on Homeworld. No soldiers sent to guard a palanquin last more than a few decades.”

            The Amethyst snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but how long does a Quartz without an actual weapon last on a battlefield, shield-wench?” Rose flinched as the Amethyst laughed and walked away, hands behind her head. Rosey stood as the voices around them rang in Rose’s ears. “ _Why…”_

            _“Why do they hate me?”_

_“Why don't I fight back?”_

_“Why do I act like such a creep?”_

_“Why won't she date me?”_

_“Why did I hit her?”_

_“Why do I cry alone at night?”_

_“Somebody hug me!”_

_“Somebody fix me!”_

_“Somebody save me!”_

_“Send me a sign, please!”_

_“Give me some hope here!”_

_“Something to live for!”_

Then, silence. Rose and Rosey snapped to attention as the street cleared, and three towering figures of opulence strode down the road in front of them. All the gem’s voices now rose as one to sing the praises of their beloved rulers.

_“Ah!... My Diamond, My Diamond, and My Diamond!”_

The Diamonds. They floated above all the squabbling and bickering of the lower classes.

_“I love My Diamond, My Diamond, and My Diamond!”_

Blue Diamond was hooded in the blue of her name, her gem displayed proud on her chest, and her long hair framed a classically beautiful face and wide eyes that reflected every rare emotion with perfect clarity. Her head was held perfectly level and she easily stood far above the doorways to the small buildings used to shelter common gems. Only the towering gates of the palaces, spires, stadiums, and courthouses allowed them to enter, were worthy of letting them enter. Blue Diamond was the head of… Diplomacy, with other worlds. That is, when dealing with worlds of intelligent beings, Blue Diamond would often send the first delegates to gauge the… receptiveness of a planet to gem colonization. The Diamond herself was the height of culture and class, and rarely would be seen by herself, always flanked by an array of aristocrats if not her fellow Diamonds themselves.

_“I hail My Diamond, My Diamond, and My Diamond!”_

Yellow Diamond walked beside Blue Diamond, her strut indicative of the military commander she was. Her face seemed to have two modes: bored and annoyed. Her yellow hair was firm as a helmet, her shoulder pads and body armour impassable. She was short of temper, hailed as logical to a fault, and word was that she was resentful toward White Diamond for not being the ‘favourite’ Junior Diamond anymore.

_“I want My Diamond, My Diamond, and My Diamond!”_

The new favourite? Pink Diamond, leading the trio down the street to cheers of her adoring public. Her spikey pink hair fanned around her head. Her eyes were bright and full of intelligence, with just a touch of cunning. Her body suit clung to her form, and her gem gleamed and shone in the sunlight as it nestled in her belly.

_“I need My Diamond, My Diamond, and My Diamond!”_

Pink Diamond was the newest Diamond, divine successor to the Gem Homeworld Legacy. Her first colony was right here on Earth, and it was proving to be a perfect addition to the Empire. As only the ruler of Earth, in spite of the fact her elder Diamonds were more decorated, Pink Diamond hadn’t had the chance to make any mistakes in White Diamond’s eyes yet and so she was often said to shine the brightest of the now-three Junior Diamonds.

With the other Diamond Matriarchs beside her, they were solid Telflon. Respected by all, never bothered by any without a death wish. The gems closest to them were offered similar respect.

Rose Quartz would have given anything to be like that. Respected and revered. Of course, she liked to think she’d rule with a gentler hand.

A Peridot swooned nearby. “I’d like to be their servant.”

_“That would be beautiful...”_

A Zikron sighed dreamily. “If I sat at their feet, gems would notice me.”

_“So beautiful...”_

Rosey huffed and put her hands on her chunky hips. “I’d like them to be nicer.”

_“That would be beautiful...”_

A tiny Ruby with her gem in her eye was cackling behind a bench. “I'd like to kidnap a Diamond and photograph her naked in an abandoned warehouse and leave her tied up for the rats!”

As the Diamonds passed into the doors of the Court of Justice, Rose caught sight of a Tanzanite running after them, shouting but ignored amid the swell of the crowd. Rose heard her though.

“My Diamonds! White Diamond’s ship has just landed! She has requested your presences immediately! MY DIAMONDS, PLEASE!”

Rose didn’t even think before she slid into the Courthouse behind the Diamonds, the door slamming shut just short of her trailing skirt.

The courthouse was enormous, built for the Diamonds naturally. The walls were engraved with countless images of great victories and events passed in Gem history. Rose had stood in the courthouse before as part of the decoration when Pink Diamond had hosted an important trial for a couple of different quartz soldiers that had been caught fusing without permit. Usually, if two different gems were caught fusing then they would be immediately sent for shattering. But debate had arisen as to whether two different quartzes really counted as different enough gems for their fusion to warrant shattering. In the end, it had gone before their Diamond, who declared that it didn’t matter if two quartzes were the same or different, the point was that they had fused without permission, and so were sent to shatter.

Rose had felt particularly shaken at that declaration. She and Rosey had stopped their extra-curricular fusing after that.

Now though, as she entered the largest courthouse chamber after the retreating feet of the Diamonds, several minutes behind them as her short – in comparison – legs hurried to catch him, she felt even more shaken than she had at the trial.

Apparently the Diamonds were doing a little recreational _execution._

The room was basically soundproof, only when she had entered did she hear the bored chatter of the Diamond’s echoing around her, punctuated by the occasional loud shatter of a gem by electric bolts that shot from Yellow Diamond’s fingertips. Rose shut her eyes and swallowed down her desire to cry out.

Yellow Diamond let out a very cruel-sounding laugh as she threw one in the air a good distance and shot it to pieces with perfect marksmanship.

“Yellow, I think you might need to get a handle on your temper,” Pink Diamond’s rich voice sounded apathetic as she lounged on her judgement throne sideways, looking as though she was casually examining her boots as she held them in the air. Yellow Diamond threw another gem up and shot it down in response. “Gems take a while to make, you know.”

Blue Diamond hummed in agreement. “Maybe you should try talking some things out, and not just shattering EVERY gem that annoys you.”

Yellow Diamond made an irritated noise and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Blue. Maybe I should.” Another gem was shattered.

“Um, my Diam-“ Rose started to speak, but went rigid as the ground shook. She turned and squeaked as she saw the colossal boot of none other than White Diamond herself behind her. She was too late! Mouth dry, Rose ran into the corner of the room, praying she went unnoticed as all three Junior Diamonds snapped to attention, Pink Diamond leaping off her chair, Yellow Diamond kicking the stack of gems behind her and smiling awkwardly. White Diamond was taller even than the other Diamonds. Her hair gleamed pure and glistening white under the light. Her gown clung to her, her cape glistening silver as it draped about her shoulders. Her Pearl stood at her feet, perfectly still, eyes hard, hair white, and nothing to betray any feeling of unease to be so small around the feet of those so much bigger than her.

Rose startled somewhat to realise the other Pearls of the Diamonds were along the same wall as her, eyeing the scene warily. She hadn’t even noticed them before.

“Ah, Pink Diamond, Blue Diamond...” White Diamond’s eyes slid from one Diamond to the next, as each bowed and took a step backward respectively. Yellow Diamond misjudged her step somewhat and landed on another gem. It crunched loudly as Yellow Diamond winced. “And Yellow Diamond.” White Diamond’s eyes narrowed.

“Perhaps you didn't hear over the sound of shattering gems, but I have been on this planet for exactly five minutes now, and I have had no acknowledgement by my Junior Diamonds whatsoever.”

Rose gaped for a moment, then without taking a moment to think she ran forward, making brief eye contact with White Pearl as she did so. The steadfast Pearl’s brow around her gemstone furrowed ever so slightly, but Rose didn’t have time to dwell on that.

Pink Diamond laughed nervously. “Well. Um. Yellow was behind on her, uh, execution schedule… and we were helping her catch up?”

White Diamond tsked. “Not when you’re meant to be greeting your supreme Senior Diamond you’re not. I expect better from all of you. You will have to face disgrace for this-“

“Actually! My Grand Diamond I…” The sound of Rose’s voice made all four giant heads look down at her. Rose hesitated momently before swallowing and continuing on, hoping this wouldn’t be the worst mistake of her life. “I was given notice to alert the Diamonds of your presence, and was unable to make myself heard over the sound of shattering gems.” Rose shivered. “So… let myself be punished for failing in my duty, My Diamond is not to blame.”

White Diamond looked at Rose for what felt like ages before speaking. “I see. Well, I suppose I can let my Junior Diamonds off. I trust them to deal with you for your failure to complete your duty. Finish with your executions, then join me at the Stadium immediately after.”

The other Diamonds gave a respectful farewell, and White Diamond left, her Pearl at her heels. Rose saw the small figure tilt her head enough that Rose could almost think she was looking back at her before they left, the giant door swinging shut behind them.

Rose had no idea what was in store for her now.

“That… was quite an act of loyalty,” Pink Diamond said, and Rose Quartz looked up at her with wide eyes. She was smiling, and Rose instantly felt herself begin to relax. “I would never know you were lying, except that a Rose Quartz would never been given the task of delivering a message.” Rose gasped and opened her mouth, but silenced when Pink Diamond lifted a finger. “I don’t know exactly why you’re in the courthouse, but I want it known that I do not take debts of gratitude lightly. Who are you, exactly?”

Rose took a deep breath and spoke plainly, with force behind her words. “Rose Quartz, facet 102-E, Cut 23-B. I crave a boon!”

Pink Diamond raised an eyebrow. “What boon?”

This was her chance! “Let me transfer to your exclusive Rose Quartz Zoo Protection Detail Squad! It’s been my dream, I know only the proven top quality Rose Quartz soldiers are allowed that transfer, and I know I only have a shield as a weapon when most have something more… substantial. But before you answer, of course, all my skills are at your disposal, known and unknown alike.”

Yellow Diamond snorted. “Really? And what good is that?”

Pink Diamond looked unimpressed. “Shut up, Yellow.”

“Urgh. Sorry, Pink.”

Pink Diamond bent, then, and Rose shivered as those giant eyes roved over her form, resting on the gem that gleamed on her belly. There was a noise of approval. “For a common Quartz soldier, you do have good lustre and sheen.”

“Thank you, My Diamond,” Rose replied automatically.

“And symmetrical facets.” Rose could have fainted as Blue Diamond’s face lowered near her as well, eyeing her up and down. This much scrutiny was distressing! “If I took a cleaver down the centre of your gem, I’d have matching halves. That’s very important.” This sort of talk was not making it less distressing.

Yellow Diamond sniffed. “Of course, you could stand to have a better sense of respect. None of you pink-aligned quartzes have enough discipline if you ask me…” Of course, Yellow was ignored.

But Pink… Pink Diamond started to sing, a cat-like grin stretching across her face. “ _And you know, you know, you know? She could be beautiful. Longer lashes, pinker lips, and we’re on our way. Make your cheeks show blush! Oh no, not quite so much… Let’s make her beautiful!”_

Blue Diamond joined in. “ _Let’s make her beautiful_ …”

Even Yellow…? “ _Let’s make her beautiful_ …”

“ _Make you beautiful_ …” Pink Diamond paused as she reached for Rose. “Okay?”

            Rose felt her insides flutter. Was this really happening? “Okay!”

*

            At the Stadium, where the Diamonds were to meet and address the gem masses, angry words dropped from thousands of mouths as they crowded the stands.

            An Amethyst barred her teeth at a Peridot. “ _Out of my way geek_!”

“ _I don't want any trouble_ –“

“ _You're gonna die at sunset_!”

“ _Don't you dare touch me! Get away, pervert_!”

“ _What'd I ever do to them_?”

“ _Who could survive this_?”

_“I can't escape this!”_

_“I think I'm dying!”_

White Diamond, standing as still as a statue in the centre of the arena, looked up as the doors opened. The gems from the stands began whispering to each other.

“ _Whoa. My Diamond, My Diamond, My Diamond!_ ”

A Lapis Lazuli squinted into the light. “And... someone.”

“ _My Diamond, My Diamond, My Diamond_!”

“And a babe!” A Bismuth wolf whistled.

“ _My Diamond, My Diamond, My Diamond_!”

From her place, Rosey gasped. “ **Rose**?!” More whispers rose around her.

“ _Rose Quartz? The shield wench? THAT Rose Quartz?”_

Sure enough, striding in at Pink Diamond’s right side (Pink Diamond’s Pearl on her left as usual), was Rose. Never before had her dress been so spotless. Never before had her hair held such bouncing curls, her gem gleamed as brightly, her lips been so full and plump. She did not walk, but seemed to glide with every step. And she smiled a smile so radiant, it was said some gems came to weep.

For truly, they would say one day, this moment that Rose followed her Diamond into the arena is the moment everything began to change.

But for now, in that moment, Rose’s voice rose in song, and she grinned at the crowd as she waved. _“And you know,_ _you know, you know life can be beautiful. You hope, you dream, you pray, and you get your way! Ask me how it feels gliding out on their heels... My God, it's beautiful! I might be beautiful… And when you're beautiful... It's a beautiful frickin' day!”_

And the gems cheered!

_“DIAMONDS!” “_

_“ROSE QUARTZ!”_

_“MY DIAMAND!”_

_“MY DIAMOND!”_

_“MY DIAMOND!”_

_“ROSE QUARTZ!”_

_“ROSE QUARTZ!”_

_“ROSE QUARTZ!”_

_“ROSE QUARTZ!”_

And for a moment, everything was beautiful.


	2. Pink Diamond's Candy Store

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose learns some of the less fabulous things about being part of Pink Diamond's inner circle.

            It had been three glorious weeks and Rose had to admit, she could see the appeal of standing directly in her Diamond’s giant shadow. Apart from the looks of awe she received from gems passing by, Rose found herself with a growing ‘fan club’ of her own. Before, she could count the number of gems propositioning her for a little extra-curricular activity on the side on one hand. Now, she wasn’t sure she could shapeshift enough hands to count the number of gems that seemed to throw themselves at her feet just to talk to her! It was like being famous… well, it WAS being famous.

            She could hardly believe it. And maybe it made her feel a little uncomfortable at times. But mostly? She loved it. Being the centre of attention was incredible!

            Even aside from the favours and devotion pledged to her by the Diamonds’ adoring public, Rose found herself actually rather enjoying the company of Pink Diamond herself, as well as her entourage. It seemed that, as much as she had been on the receiving end of the taunts of her now-comrades, being approved of by a Diamond meant that she was officially one of the elite soldiers. That meant that where once a Jasper might kick dirt on her dress, now she was more likely to be asked to spar, or to pull pranks on other gems. And honestly, that was fun too.

            But Pink Diamond herself? Rose had never really paid as much attention to her Diamond as she had the past three weeks, and she found herself more and more devoted to her service every day. She stood with such poise, she always knew what to say and what to do to command respect. And if you were in her favour, every word she said to you was like honey in your ears. Rose sighed every time Pink Diamond gave her praise on her appearance, or battle stance during sparring. And Pink Diamond often liked to have her guards spar for her entertainment.

            For three glorious, glorious weeks, Rose was able to believe that this would be her turning point. That things would be better from here on out. That there was no downside to such a life as this.

            Yet, of course, she had been too quick to forget that even as she soared in Gem social ranks, this didn’t change the fate and life of those beneath her… not at all.

            There was one day, as Rose was standing guard outside of one of the Spires as Pink Diamond communed with her fellow Diamonds inside, that she was approached by another Rose Quartz gem she knew too well.

            “Rose! Rose, how are you? I haven’t seen you for weeks!” Rosey barreled in from seemingly nowhere, crushing Rose into a startled hug… right in front of the other three perfect Rose Quartz gems guarding the door with her. They looked on at Rose with dissatisfied eyes, but Rose tried to ignore that as she addressed her friend as normally as possible.

            “I’m fine, Rosey. I’ve just been busy attending to Pink Diamond. Being a personal guard is… rather time consuming.”

            “Right, right, that makes sense,” Rosey smiled. “It’s so exciting that you’ve been accepted into her personal guard! So few get that opportunity, but I knew you were destined for great things, Rose! Oh, I managed to get a couple of off colour Amethysts and some Scaphites to come watch the sunset with me tonight, if you came too. Can you?”

            “I, er… I’m not sure…”

            Rosey’s eyes widened. “Please, can you try at least?”

            “I… yes, if I can be there, I will. But, please don’t promise anyone anything. I can’t guarantee…”

            “It’s alright! I’m sure they’ll come, just for a chance to be near a Rose Quartz of the Diamond Guard!”

            Rose couldn’t help but smile warmly at Rosey’s enthusiasm. “Alright. Well, if that’s all… I really need to get back to my post.”

            “Right, right, get back to work, superstar!” Rosey giggled and waved as she ran off. Rose sighed and turned, only to squeak at Pink Diamond’s eyes looking directly down at her from the doorway of the Spire. Oh no, how long had she been listening?

             “Rose Quartz facet 102-E, Cut 23-B.”

            “Y-yes my Diamond?”

            “I want to make it clear that you are not to be engaging with random gems from the populace. You have an image to maintain, now.”

            “Oh,” Rose continued to stare.

            “To prove your loyalty in this matter, I order you to go to that off colour Rose Quartz that was just here and inform her that you will no longer be associated with her. I want you to cut off all ties with her and never speak to her again. Do I make myself clear?”

            Rose’s eyes widened. “Y-you can’t be serious, my Diamond!”

            Pink Diamond’s eyes narrowed. “Are you questioning my orders?”

            “I… no… no my Diamond. But Rosey is my-“

            “ _Are we going to have a problem?_ ”

            “What?”

            _“You got a bone to pick?”_

“N-no I-“

            _“You’ve come so far,_ _why now are you pulling stupid tricks?_ ”

Rose could not believe Pink Diamond was singing at her right now. Everyone was staring at her! And not in a good way!

_“I’d normally crush you instantly. And everyone here could watch. But I’m feeling nice, here’s some advice. Listen up, biotch!”_

Rose’s jaw dropped. Did… did Pink Diamond just call her a bitch? The other three Rose Quartz grinned and spun, hands on their hips as they back-up sang for their Diamond. “ _I like_!”

 _“Lookin’ hot, doing stuff they cannot!”_ Pink Diamond ran a hand through her hair and then gestured to the gems gathering around them.

_“I like!”_

_“Playin’ hard, making jewellery out of shards!”_ Pink Diamond flashed her hand, where Rose shivered as she remembered every ring on it held the shards of those who dared fail to treat Pink Diamond with her deserved respect.

“ _I like_!”

“ _Ruling when I’m scaring her and breaking them_!”

“ _I like_!”

“ _Giant swords, spearing failures through the nose_!” Pink Diamond spun in a circle, mimicked by her back up dancers at her feet. “ _If you lack the brain, go sing your refrain! Tell Peridot to bury you again!_ ”

“ _Woah_!”

Pink Diamond grinned and gestured to the other Rose Quartz, who now danced to surround Rose, grabbing her hands and pulling her into a circle step dance with them. Pink Diamond kept singing, and Rose was starting to get caught up in the beat. “ _Or you could join my crew! Tell you what I’ll do: endless praise and shine I offer you_!”

The Rose Quartz sang out. “ _Woah! Woah! Woah! Honey, whatchu waitin’ for? Welcome to my candy store! It’s time for you to prove you’re not a loser anymore! Then step into my candy store_!”

One of the Rose Quartz, with her hair pulled into a ponytail, grinned brightly, the other Quartzes following her in turn. “ _Gems fall at your feet!”_

_“Pay respects!”_

_“Win your fights!”_

_“All you have to say-“_

_“Is goodbye to ‘Rosay’”_

“ _That freak’s_ _not your friend, we can tell in the end_.”

_“If she had your shot,”_

“ _She would leave you to rot_!” They finished together and dropped Rose, jumping into the air, defying gravity to land gracefully on their Diamond’s shoulder pads- two on one side, one on the other.”

Pink Diamond shrugged, not jostling the Quartzes in the slightest as she gestured down at Rose and her still horrified expression. “ _Course if you don’t care_ _, fine! Go braid her hair! Maybe a sunset is on somewhere_.”

“ _Woah_!”

“ _Or forget that scene, in my palanquin! Let’s go tear up earth’s lawn_!”

The Rose Quartzes joined their Diamond in the chorus. _“Woah! Woah! Woah!_ _Honey, whatchu waitin’ for? Welcome to my candy store! You just gotta prove you’re not a shield-wench anymore! Then step into my candy store!”_

Pink Diamond jostled her shoulders purposefully to get her Quartzes to silence. She glared down at Rose. _“You can join the team-“_

_“Or you can bitch and moan.”_

_“You can live the dream-“_

_“Or you can die alone!”_

_“You can fly with eagles-“_

_“Or if you prefer-“_

_“Keep on testing me-“_

_“And end up like her!”_

The four gems were pointing, and Rose turned to look. There was Rosey, running back toward her. Did she not see Pink Diamond standing RIGHT THERE? Rosey was always a bit near sighted…

“Rose! Rose!” Rosey called out, catching up to her and grinning brightly. Rose winced as she grabbed her hand. “I just got Jasper to agree to come if you came! Please, please tell me you can?”

“I…” Rose glanced over her shoulder at Pink Diamond staring her down. She swallowed and looked back at Rosey. “I… Rosey I… listen. I’m… I’m high status now. I… can’t be seen with off colours. On our Diamond’s orders… You understand, right?”

“What?” Rosey deflated instantly. Her smile gone, her glow faded. She glanced up for the first time and seemed to freeze, looking clearly from Pink Diamond to Rose and back again. Then she sniffled. “I… yes… I… understand. I’m sorry for getting in your way, Rose. B-best of luck to you!” With that, Rosey turned on her heel and ran away, and Rose was left feeling rather hollow inside.

“ _Woah_! _Honey, whachu waiting fo—“_

“SHUT UP!” Pink Diamond bellowed at the Quartzes before belting, “ _FOOOOR! Step into my can-dy-- store Oooh woah! Woah oh oh! Prove you’re not a lame ass any-more! Step into my candy store_!”

_“Step into my candy store! Time for you to prove, Oooh woah! Woah oh oh! You’re not a lame ass anymore! Then step into my candy store!”_

_“It’s my candy store”_

_“It’s my candy”_

_“It’s my candy store”_

_“It’s my candy”_

_“It’s my candy store”_

_“It’s my candy”_

_“IT’S MY CANDY STORE!”_

_“OOOH!”_

And with that, the other Rose Quartz guards slapped Rose on the back and followed their Diamond as she led them off. Rose watched them go, feeling sharp lump rise to her throat.

What now?

            … Well, Rose was never THAT good at following orders.

*

            “Rose! You’re here? But I thought…” Rosey’s eyes were filling with tears.

            “I couldn’t miss a sunset with you for anything,” Rose said softly as the two gems embraced out by their secret beach behind a large craggy cliff. Nearby, a gaggle of slightly runty and too-blue Amethysts from a “bad batch” were lying all over each other, braiding each other’s hair in the fading pink glow.

            “Well, I’m so glad you came, I have a surprise for you!” Rosey said quickly, “I was waiting to prepare the Amethysts but… oh, I can’t wait anymore!” She ran behind a nearby boulder and came out with a-

            “A HUMAN?!” Rose squealed in excitement. She LOVED humans! They were all so funny to watch! This one seemed especially sweet looking with smooth brown cheeks, dark shiny hair, and a shy smile. “Where did you find her? She’s so cute!”

            “It’s a ‘him’ actually.” Rosey giggled. “They have more than one kind, remember?”

            “Oh right, I know,” Rose flushed a little. How could she dream of working at the Zoo without remembering that at least? “Well, _he_ is just adorable!”

            “I know! I found him wandering around near the edge of the city today! I think he got separated from his tribe! I’ve been trying to communicate with him, but… well, so far I at least got him to believe I wasn’t going to hurt him…”

            “Well, let’s go show the Amethysts! I honestly think more gems should learn to appreciate the local fauna!” Rose said firmly.

            “Yes! Let’s go!” Rosey laughed, and both ushered the now slightly alarmed looking human toward the group of Amethysts who were of course quick to accept him.


	3. Who's That Pearl?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> White Diamond's Pearl is more than she seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short song. Short chapter.

It was yet another day of being part of the personal guard of Pink Diamond. The Diamonds were in an extremely important meeting, and all the servants and guards were left out in the ante-chamber. Rose was starting to get rather bored of standing still and looking pretty.

            It seemed that the Jasper and Amethyst guards were getting bored too. Unlike the naturally patient Rose Quartz gems who remained still even as boredom ate at them, the Jaspers and Amethysts were starting to fidget. In fact, Jasper Facet 139-C, Cut 53-A and Amethyst Facet 269-P, Cut 48-J had left their posts entirely and were very openly oogling the Diamonds’ Pearls that were lined up closest to the door. Rose knew that the meeting going on inside had to be of intensely personal and secretive nature for even the Pearls to have been left outside.

            The four of them certainly made an impressive sight, standing perfectly poised in a row. Yellow Diamond’s Pearl stood at perfect attention, arms behind her back, eyes closed and nose high in the air. Blue Diamond’s Pearl held her head respectfully downward, blue hair obscuring her eyes, hands clasped together down by her flowing skirt. Pink Diamond’s Pearl’s shimmering translucent sleeves flowed to the floor, her hair a perfect spike pointed forward on her head, a soft smirk on her face as she held her arms crossed coyly in front of her, just above her gem on her navel.

            But White Diamond’s Pearl stood out even among the perfection of the other Diamonds’ Pearls. Her hair slid to a lovely ducktail on the back of her head, her translucent collar and skirt bouncing just enough to make her look delicate, but her titanium white skin, hair, and body suit made her seem pure and un-touchable. Her hands remained pressed together, her eyelids lowered, she seemed like she was in a trance. A perfect white statue amid the beautiful gems standing around her.

            Trust unthinking quartzes like Amethyst and Jasper to think themselves high and mighty enough to get away with bothering the Pearls of the Diamonds. Honestly, it was a wonder why those two hadn’t been shattered by them years ago.

            “Hey pretty Pearl! What’s it like working with the most powerful gem in existence?” Jasper asked, making sure to flex right in front of White Pearl’s face. For her part, Pearl didn’t move an inch.

            “If your Diamond’s ever too busy to take care of you, I’m sure my friend and I could make sure you’re never short on orders,” Amethyst grinned, moving to put an arm around the stone-like figure.

            But, like lightning, the Pearl took a graceful step to one side, and Amethyst was left scooping air. She sniffed, a smile spreading across her face. “I take orders from no one save from My Diamond, thank you.”

            A chorus of “ooohs” rose from the other quartzes, and the other Pearls giggled. Amethyst blushed and growled. “Hey, you might belong to the most powerful Diamond in the galaxy, but you’re STILL just a Pearl! We outrank you, and if your Diamond isn’t around, you gotta get your orders from somewhere!”

            “Not from you I don’t.” White Pearl snorted. “I’ve served White Diamond for three millennia. The first and only Pearl that she accepted and did not shatter for more than a century. And you? You’ve barely been born from the ground, and serve a Diamond who has barely lived five centuries. The very idea that I should take orders from you? Disgusting.”

            “Hey! You don’t get to talk like that!” Jasper snapped.

            “You shouldn’t be speaking unless spoken to!” Amethyst agreed, “I bet White Diamond would thank us for teaching you some manners!”

            White Pearl grinned. “Oh, be my guest, ladies.”

            Rose gasped as she saw Jasper let an open palm swing toward the Pearl… and Pearl started moving. Rose’s eyes bulged as she saw this slip of a Pearl start whacking the living hell out of two fully grown quartzes, knocking them to the ground.

            Then, as Pearl leapt in the air to land a finishing blow to Jasper’s face, Rose felt like time stopped. The Pearl looked so… happy. Joyous. Powerful.

            Rose felt music rise in her mind.

            “ _Why when you see gems fight does it look so horrible, yet feel so right? I shouldn't watch this here, a soldier should interfere, but this Pearl shows no fear.._. Damn,” Rose sighed dreamily. “ _Hey, Miss Fancy Pearl, say who might you be? And could you fight for me? Hey could you face the crowd? Could you be seen with me and still act proud? Hey could you hold my hand, and carry me through no man’s land? It's fine if you don't agree, but I would fight for you, if you would fight for me_.”

A vision filled Rose’s mind. She and this Pearl, this absolutely perfect Pearl, running away from the city. Running out into the wilds of Earth, and just being… just being as free as Pearl looked right now.

“ _Let them drive us underground, we’ve got nothing to fear. You can shine my cracked gem lines and I’ll shed a healing tear_.”

Time stuttered forward in increments. Jasper flew backwards, her physical form poofing as she hit the ground. And Amethyst was soon to follow. “ _Well, woah, you can punch real good! You've lasted longer than I thought you would. So hey, Miss Fancy Pearl, if some night you're free, wanna fight for me? If you're still alive, I would fight for you, if you would fight for me_.”

White Pearl gently picked up the poofed gems and placed them casually in the middle of the room. She looked with a steely gaze at the other quartzes each in turn. “They got into a fight, and poofed each other. You all saw it.”

Rose nodded along with the rest of the assembled gems. As Pearl walked back to her sister Pearls and retook her stoic position, Rose saw now all three colourful Pearls were smirking widely now.

When the Diamonds emerged about an hour later, they didn’t even question the two disembodied gems lying in the middle of the floor. Each Pearl fell into step behind their Diamond and the procession left. Back to mere servants again. But Rose knew that White Pearl was far more amazing than her station made her seem, and she hoped one day she’d get the chance to speak to her, if only just once.


	4. Freeze Your Brain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose has a chance meeting with a forlorn figure.

Rose Quartz got her wish not long after. Yet again, the Diamonds were in a private meeting. Rose had heard rumors the meetings were about a small group of off colour rebel gems that were gaining ground on Earth, but there was nothing certain about that. If it was true, it must be serious for the Diamonds not to want any gems to even know it was happening.

            Regardless of whether it was true or not, however, Rose found herself patrolling the halls with the other guards this time. The Pearls had been left in the antechamber alone this time (perhaps someone had mentioned to the Diamonds the behaviour of their guards) and Rose was on the left side of the Spire that was the chosen meeting place this time around.

            It was mostly just a peaceful stroll past impressive statues and bubbling fountains. But Rose stopped when she saw a slight figure by one of said fountains. Rose squinted as the figure shoved her head right into the spray.

            “Hey you! What are you doing?” Rose called, running toward the small gem that pulled her head out and- “W-white Diamond’s Pearl? Er… m-my apologies!” Rose said, flustered and saluted without thinking. There was no protocol for how to address a Diamond’s Pearl while they were alone… mostly because as far as Rose was aware the Diamonds’ Pearls were never alone. They were always guarded at the very least.

            But White Pearl was indeed alone, and mostly looked embarrassed at having been caught. At Rose’s reaction to catching her, however, Pearl laughed. “Did you just salute me?”

            “Oh… oh!” Rose dropped her salute. “I’m so sorry, but… what are you doing here by yourself?”

            Now Pearl looked flustered, very different now than she was when she stood with her Diamond or even her fellow Pearls. “Well I… my Diamond is in a meeting, and she has so many other gems to take notes and such for her, no one notices if I’m there or not until the meeting ends…”

            “So you snuck out?”

            “Just to… clear my head.” Pearl narrowed her eyes. “If you try to tell my Diamond, she won’t believe you. She doesn’t believe I have any will of my own to do such a thing.”

            “I… I wasn’t going to tell on you,” Rose said, feeling a little baffled at just how she found herself in this situation. Pearl’s eyes widened a fraction, and she blushed a pretty blue before turning back to the fountain.

            “You… you were the Rose Quartz that lied to White Diamond, weren’t you?”

            “… yes? How did you know I was lying?”

            “A Rose Quartz would not be given a message to deliver to a Diamond. Of course, White Diamond doesn’t pay as much attention to such things. But it was very convincing otherwise. I was impressed, there aren’t many who would lie to a Diamond’s face like that, let alone White Diamond. I suppose being part of Pink Diamond’s guard was your payment for saving her honour?”

            “I guess… but what I really wanted was to be posted to her private Zoo. I’m sure Pink Diamond considered this a more honourable position but… The Zoo just seems like a peaceful, stable life. Idyllic.”

            Pearl snorted and suddenly hugged herself, though Rose didn’t know why she would do that. “Sounds… nice. I’m sure if you put in your time with Pink Diamond you’ll get the opportunity to move there.”

            “I’m not so sure…” Rose frowned. “To be honest, my weapon is only a shield. The swords we’re given aren’t quite as versatile or durable… I don’t know if I would be much use in a fight… not that I’ve really been in one yet.”

            “You’re a Quartz. Fighting would come naturally to you I’m sure, you’ll have no trouble when you’re sent into battle.”

            “Well… I saw you poof two Quartz gems the other day,” Rose said quickly, “That was incredible! I had no idea a Pearl was capable of fighting like that!”

            Pearl brightened quickly and beamed at the praise. “I’ve been training secretly for hundreds of years! It wasn’t easy, but it comes in handy sometimes… as you saw.”

            “You’re no ordinary Pearl, that’s for sure.” Rose paused for a second, then added, “What were you doing with the fountain?”

            “Oh, you mean…” Pearl laughed a little, “Sticking my gem into the spray? I just like how it feels, it makes everything stop for a while.”

            “I assume your Diamond doesn’t know about that, either?” Rose smiled.

            Pearl shook her head. “No, definitely not.”

            “What made you start sneaking off from meetings?” Rose asked. “I mean, I’m sure they’re boring but, I’ve never known a Pearl to just shake routine like that.”

            Pearl’s smile strained. “Well, White Diamond broke that routine first. I used to always know what to expect on Homeworld but now…”

            Pearl turned back to the water and closed her eyes, and began to sing. Rose’s eyes widened as the most beautiful voice she’d ever heard echoed through the wide room.

            “ _I’ve been on hundreds of planets, they start to get blurry. No point learning new rules, cause you’re gone in a hurry. My Diamond’s always near her palanquin, and it’s only a matter of when.”_

            Pearl turned to looked at Rose with sad eyes and a shrug, gesturing to the walls of the spire that towered around them. “ _I don’t learn nicknames. Don’t remember gem placements. All I can trust is this stone oasis. Seems every time I’m about to despair, there’s towering Spire right there.”_

            Pearl grinned now, but it was still melancholy, and didn’t reach her eyes as she twirled on the spot. “ _Each Spire is the same, from Earth to Irken Seven. Cold marble halls that I love to get lost in. I pray at my altar of gush”_ Pearl faced the fountain again, raising her arms gracefully above her head. “ _Yes, I live for that sweet freezing rush…”_

            Pearl shoved her head with ceremony into the fountain’s spray. Rose could see her grimace. She pulled her head out, and let the water drip down her for a couple of moments before her form flickered and the water flecked off her, a few drops landed on Rose’s dress.

            Rose was about to say something, but quickly silenced herself as Pearl sang again, sounding suddenly forlorn. “ _Freeze your brain… Get your gem sprayed, get lost in the pain. Happiness comes when everything numbs. Who needs to be sane? Freeze your brain. Freeze your brain…”_

            Pearl chuckled and looked at Rose again. “Care for a hit?”

            Rose tilted her head, hair bouncing slightly. “You’ve been doing this since you left Homeworld?”

            Pearl sighed. “ _When we lived on Homeworld our routine was normal. Now we travel the colonies, now we’re less formal. I learned to walk on my own, I learned to fight back. Learned the world doesn’t care if you crack.”_

            Her eyes met Rose’s. “ _You’re planning your future, Rose Quartz the soldier. You’ll get posted in paradise, happy and blissful. But that false sky’s going to hurt when it falls, so you better build up thicker walls.”_

            Pearl took a deep breath and shut her eyes, hugging herself again. “ _Freeze your brain! Swim in the ice, get lost in the pain. Shut your eyes tight, till you vanish from sight, let nothing remain!”_

            Rose didn’t know what to say as Pearl spun again, looking more and more crazed by the moment, running both her hands through her own hair and pulling on it. “ _Freeze your brain! Shatter your thoughts, fight pain with more pain! Forget who you are, unburden your load! Forget in six weeks you’ll be back on the road! When that voice in your head says you’re better off dead, don’t open a vein!”_

            Pearl make a soft, choked noise, sinking slowly to her knees. “ _Just freeze your brain… Freeze your brain… Go on and freeze your brain…”_ She looked up at Rose, eyes just a little watery. “Try it.”

            Rose looked from the shivering Pearl on the floor, to the fountain beside them. She leapt into the air above White Diamond’s Pearl and floated down just in front of the spray. She thrust her belly forward, shivering and grimacing as the cold water pounded over her gem. She could almost feel the sharper edges eroding under the power. Everything was starting to feel numb, and she found it was harder to pull herself back out than she thought it would be.

            When she did at last, Pearl looked at her knowingly. “Felt good, didn’t it?”

She really looked at the Pearl and noticed how incredibly smooth and shiny her gem was. And… also slightly elongated. As a Diamond’s Pearl, it certainly wouldn’t have been that way to start with. Pearl… had really been doing this a long time.

“Yes… it’s certainly something,” Rose admitted quietly.

Then a sudden, demanding voice rang through the space. “ **ROSE**! WHERE ARE YOU? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO REPORT BACK TEN MINUTES AGO!”

            “Oh no, that’s my superior.” Rose winced, “Hide!”

            “Right!” Pearl said quickly, scampering off without making a sound.

            Rose was quick to find her superior and tell her she had nothing to report.

            She wondered when or if she would ever see White Pearl again. She had seemed so very sad… Rose wondered if she could help her with that.


	5. Big Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Diamonds have left for the night! Time to have a rave! Elite gems only. Sounds like big fun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stars bless those who left positive comments so far!
> 
> May my own stunned confusion follow the person who told me not to tag this as Heathers because people looking for Heathers stories don't want to read Steven Universe crossovers or something like that. I mean... listen. I'm pretty sure 99% of Steven Universe fans don't want to read a Heathers crossover either. This fic caters directly to the three people on this website who like Steven Universe AND Heathers the Musical AND weird hybrids of fandoms like can we just acknowledge that this is a niche audience and I just want people to know by the tags what they're getting into here.

There came a night when all four Diamonds had left the city for the large swathes of un-gem-inhabited Earth land. They had refused guards, garrisons, and even their own Pearls. While they hadn’t said so, every gem knew this had something to do with the rebellious gems out in the wastelands of Earth. It was the only reasons the Diamonds would go alone, wishing to be certain there were no traitorous gems spying on them, nor any chance of the rebels finding more gems unexpectedly sympathetic to their cause.

            Well, if the rebels had four Diamonds coming for them, there was no chance that any would survive till the morning.

            However, as they had the night to themselves, the elite gems decided the best way to spend their time awaiting their glorious return… was with a huge party!

            “ _THE DIAMONDS SAID TO DO OUR DUTY_!” An Amethyst yelled from the top of the main stadium platform to the hundreds of Quartzes and elites (and the Pearls of the elites) gathered around her. “ _YOU HEARD ‘EM GEMS! IT’S TIME TO PARTY_!”

            A massive cheer rose from the assembled gems. Conjured weapons were thrown in the air only to dissipate in a shimmering sea of sparkles far above them as upbeat music rang from the instruments of the Olivines and Pyroxenes. The Pearls, and indeed many other gems who were quickly passing around drinks and dancing, joined in song.

            “ _Blast the bass, turn out the light! Ain’t proper Homeworld gems tonight!”_

            Jasper Facet 139-C, Cut 53-A stood over one of the Diamond’s enormous glistening pools as a Lapis Lazuli churned the water happily into a frothing wave-pool. “ _Drink, eat, it’s all cool! Let’s get naked in the pool_!” Jasper sang, disappearing her body armour and making a massive cannonball into the water.

            “ _Punch the wall and start a fight! Ain’t proper Homeworld gems tonight_!”

            Another Lapis Lazuli gestured to a large semi-solid mass of water floating above with gems bouncing on the somewhat gelatinous mass. “ _Look, we made a waterbed! Come up here and rest your head_!”

            A proverbial pile of gems were writhing in a corner, with a large number of elite Pearls among them, faces flushed. The gems sang, “ _Let’s rub at each other’s backs while watching Pearls moan and climax_!”

            “ _The boss is gone, it’s time for big fun_!”

            “ _Big fun_!” The Pearls in the pile moaned.

            “ _We’re up till dawn having some big fun_!”

            “ _Big fun_!” The Lapis Lazulis sang out from their waterbed in the sky.

            “ _When the Diamonds forget we do no good without rules set, it’s big fun! Big fun_!”

            “So, wait a moment, it’s lime, then salt, then shot?” Rose asked, a giant smile on her face as she fumbled with the glass in front of her.

            The other Rose Quartzes giggled.

Blue Pearl shook her head and said in a quiet but endearing voice, “No, salt, then shot-“

“You’re doing it wrong!” Yellow Pearl snapped, grabbing her own glass and doing a flawless salt, shot, lime, combo.

“Well, trust a Pearl to know how to use salt,” one of the other Rose Quartzes laughed.

“Are all the Diamonds’ Pearls here?” Rose asked, looking around. She spotted Pink Pearl nearby laughing politely as a Topaz flexed for her.

“Phht, no,” Yellow Pearl rolled her eyes. “Everyone knows White Diamond’s Pearl wouldn’t be caught dead at one of these. Too good for us I guess.”

“I don’t think it’s that,” Blue Pearl said softly, “Our Diamonds would ultimately forgive us if they found out we were here, because… deep down, they’re really attached to us and they would more quickly blame the other gems here for influencing us. But White Diamond…”

“White Diamond would shatter her the second she noticed her out of line,” Pink Pearl said, and Rose startled to see her so close so fast. Rose paled considerably.

“S-she would shatter her? Just for being at a party?”

“Well, if she noticed her,” Pink Pearl shrugged. “She probably wouldn’t, I think she normally sort of ignores her Pearl. She barely has her do anything, she’s more of a status symbol than a servant at this point. But a status symbol is easily replaced.”

“Anyway, have a drink, newbie!” The Rose Quartz nearest to Rose shoved a drink in her face and, if only to distract herself from this unsavoury news, Rose downed it and followed it with a few more until she flushed and giggled when a tiny gem flew by her.

“Rose Quartz, you’re looking good tonight!” the tiny Aquamarine said, winking and shooting finger guns as she flew off. Rose grinned and slapped one of her fellow guards on the arm excitedly.

“ _Whoa! An elite gem just smiled at me without a trace of mockery_!”

The other Quartzes patted her on the back and laughed in congratulations. “ _Everyone’s high as a kite! Ain’t proper Homeworld gems tonight_!”

Rose laughed as well. “ _Stoned. Zoned. I should quit… Hey, is that weed? I want a hit_!”

The Zikron that was rolling joints handed one to Rose and sang, “ _Fill that joint and roll it tight, ain’t proper Homeworld gems tonight_!”

Rose sucked in a lungful of smoke and breathed it out, feeling the world blur and fill with life. “ _Dream are coming true, when gems laugh but not at you! I’m not alone! I’m not afraid! I feel like joining in the rave_!”

“ _The spires are ours! It’s time for big fun!”_

_“Big fun!”_

_“Let’s use their fountains, sounds like big fun!”_

_“Big fun!”_

_“Crack open one more case!”_

Rose stumbled a little closer to the gem orgy and giggled. “ _I think that’s what they call third base_!”

“ _Big fun! Big fun! Big fun_!” the gems chanted.

Rose swayed closer to the group. “That actually looks like-“

“ _Big fun! Big fun! Big fun_!” the gems moaned.

But Rose was distracted before she fell amongst them by an Amethyst running nearby holding a piñata… made to look like a human. It had a sign hung on it stating as much as well if you couldn’t tell on sight. (It was, admittedly, quite crude).

“Alright gems! What is Homeworld gonna do to the Humans the next time we fight them?”

Jasper ran up beside the Amethyst and grabbed the piñata, thrusting her lower body against it. “Gonna make’em go Whee! Whee! Whee! Whee!”

“ _Big fun! Big fun_!” The gems laughed, though Rose found herself feeling a little queasy now.

Yellow Pearl didn’t seem very impressed by Jasper’s conduct either, though likely for a different reason than Rose. “Way to show maturity!” she shouted at the burly gem.

“ _Big fun! Big fun!”_

Jasper made a tsking noise and grabbed Yellow Pearl by the hips and started thrusting against her instead. “You need to relax, get that stick out of your ass and put something better in!” Stars, what was she thinking? That was a Diamond’s Pearl!

“Hey, let go! Get off of me!”

_“Big fun! **BIG FUN**!”_

Rose couldn’t just watch this. She ran over and grabbed Jasper’s shoulder. Jasper turned to look Rose in the eyes with a sickening grin.

“Hey, want a piece? She’s got two ends!”

“I- no!” Rose gasped, feeling sicker by the second. “It’s… uh, an emergency! I just saw some Rubies sneaking over the wall into the stadium!”

Jasper growled and dropped the Pearl. “I hate Rubies! Where are the little runts? I’ll use their gems as target practice!”

Distracted now, Jasper ran off and Rose quickly dropped to her knees beside Yellow Diamond’s Pearl. "Are you okay?”

Trying to save face, Yellow Pearl coughed and stood, discreetly wiping tears away. “I didn’t need your help, Quartz,” she knocked Rose’s hand away. Rose sighed as she marched off. She was feeling much more sober now as she looked around at the gems partying. Some of it did seem genuinely fun but… maybe there was a reason White Diamond’s Pearl avoided this sort of gathering.

_“The party’s hot, hot, hot! It’s time for big fun!”_

_“Big fun!”_

“ _You need a jello shot_!” a glimmering Sapphire giggled, handing it to Rose. Shrugging, Rose downed it. Sapphires always knew what you needed after all.

_“We’re having big fun!”_

_“Big fun!”_

“ROSE!”

Rose turned on a dime and her eyes blew wide open as she saw Rosey hurrying toward her.

“Rosey? What are you doing here? I mean, I know there’s a lot of gems here, but isn’t it invite only?” Rose looked around nervously.

“I was invited!” Rosey said happily, “One of the Jaspers you work with slipped me an invitation the other day! She didn’t say much but… anyway, isn’t this so exciting, Rose?”

“A Jasper?” Rose frowned slightly. “Do you… know which Jasper?”

*

A short distance away, the three Diamonds’ Pearls congregated to watch the interloper with matching sneers.

“Well, well, well, what have we here? Rosey Wide-load, in the flesh,” Pink Pearl said, tapping her foot in irritation. They had rules for a reason, she shouldn’t be looking at any off colours tonight!

“Ah yes, that Misshapen monstrocity…” Yellow Pearl sniffed. “Honestly, under any other Diamond she would have been shattered for being born her status and daring to come out looking like that! Why, my Diamond-“

“Shut up, Pearl,” Pink Pearl said with a glare.

“Sorry, Pearl,” Yellow Pearl said, closing her mouth sheepishly.

“Look who’s with her! Oh my stars!” Blue Pearl said in a hushed tone as she pointed out Rose talking with the off-colour Rosey.

The Pearl put their hands on the hips and sang together, “ _Dang! Dang! Diggety-dang-a-dang!  
Dang-dang! Diggety-dang-a-dang!_ ”

*

“Well, I don’t know her exact cut, but I’ve seen her around you plenty of times before!” Rosey laughed beside Rose, “She used to be pretty mean to us back before you joined the inner court, but I hadn’t seen her as much lately... until now! It’s exciting, right? I want to say hello to her!”

*

            “Showing up here took some guts,” Pink Pearl admitted before scowling. “Time to rip them out.” She gestured for Yellow and Blue Pearl to follow her. Yellow Pearl nearly stumbled over the human piñata from earlier and held it aloft.

            “Hey, who’s this human remind you of? She might as well be one!”

            “Ha!” Pink Pearl laughed and the Pearls sang again as they hurried off to formulate some sort of malicious plan.

“ _Dang, dang, diggety-dang-a-dang! Dang, dang, diggety-dang-a-dang_!”  
*

            “Where the hell are those Rubies?” Jasper growled as she marched angrily past Rose and Rosey.

            “There she is! Hi Jasper!” Rosey said quickly. “I’m so grateful you took the time to give me that invitation!”

            “What invitation?” Jasper growled, “Why d’you gotta be so weird all the time? Gems wouldn’t hate you so much if you at least acted normal.”

Jasper huffed and marched away as Rosey shivered. Rose put an arm around her. “It’s okay, I’m sure Jasper is just… wasted. And forgot.”

“M-maybe…” Rosey took a deep breath. “I just… I’m sorry, I just thought that maybe she decided that…”

“What?” Rose looked at Rosey seriously.

“I just… I’m sorry, I lied to you. I do know that Jasper. I never told you this but, a long time ago, back during our first training sessions…” Rosey blushed suddenly. “We… we kissed once. Before…”

“Oh Rosey…”

The gems around them rose in song contrary to the mood as Rose looked at Rosey in deepest sympathy.

_“Dang dang, diggety-dang-a-dang! Dang dang, diggety-dang-a-dang! Dang dang, diggety-dang-a-dang! Diggety-dang-a-dang!”_

_“Diamonds are gone, it’s time for big fun!”_

_“Big fun!”_

_“We’re up till dawn having some big fun!”_

_“Big fun!”_

_“So let our voices blow! We’ll lose our minds, they’ll never know! Our Diamonds got no clue ‘bout all the shit elite gems do! Why are they surprised? Whenever we’re unsupervised it’s big fun!”_

_“Big fun!”_

_“Big fun! Big fun! Big fun! WHOOOO!”_

            “Hey everyone! Time to smash this stupid human piñata!” Pink Pearl laughed and wandered with graceful tipsiness toward Rose and Rosey. “And let’s see… Rosey, was it not? Lovely to see you, very brave to show up to an event like this…”

            “I-I was invited…” Rosey said nervously as Rose tensed up. She knew that tone of voice.

            “Right, right, so you were…” Pink Pearl giggled. “Well, as a token of good will, I think it would only be fair to let you take the first swing at our victory piñata.” She held up the piñata and waved it in front of Rosey’s face. “Show your support for eradicating the local human population?”

            Rosey grimaced at the sentiment. “I… I…”

            “Come on! Unless you’re too weak to even defeat this kind of human,” Pink Pearl laughed cruelly, then smirked. “Or maybe you care about paper humans too? Honestly, to think those strange fleshy things are anything beyond a mildly interesting curiosity is disgusting. They’re animals, but then… maybe you are too, so it makes sense you relate to them more than normal gems.”

            Rose growled under her breath and then pushed herself in front of Rosey. “Leave her alone! She obviously doesn’t want to play your game!”

            “Oh, maybe you do, then?” Pink Pearl asked with a raised eyebrow as the few gems around them listening hooted and oohed in the background.

            Rose had had enough of this. “No! Honestly, is this really fun to you? Hurting other gems? Why are you doing this? What do you gain from it? What do any of you elite gems gain from this?” Rose asked loudly, drawing herself up to full height, towering over the Pearl.

            “Hmph,” Pink Pearl scowled. “Well, I suppose my Diamond would love to hear about one of her so-called elite Rose Quartz gems defending an off colour. Especially one she _was specifically ordered not to associate with_.”

            Rose deflated slightly, then rallied. “Fine then! I’m done, I’m out. You won’t have to see me again, I’ll go back to being a common guard and-“

            “Oh no no no no,” Pink Pearl’s laugh tinkled in the air. “You see Rose, you don’t get to be a nobody anymore. Now, you’re an ex-elite. And an ex-elite? Is a dead elite.” The Pearl’s eyes glittered darkly.

            Rose felt a chill run through her gem. She shuddered. “No I- please, you can’t… I’m sorry.”

            “Oh, you’ll be sorry alright,” Pink Pearl said sharply. “You, Rose Quartz, have one night left. Have fun, cause at dawn? You’re gone.” She turned on her heel and marched away.

            “We… we’ll run away, Rose,” Rosey said quickly. Rose turned at looked at Rosey with wide eyes. “We can run, into the wilds of Earth. We can join the rebels-“

            “The Diamonds are already destroying the rebels!”

            “We’ll be new rebels!”

            “I… I need to think,” Rose said, “Go… go get ready to leave though. Get some supplies, I’ll meet you at the beach just before dawn.”

            “Oh…” Rosey said softly, “But we’ll run then, right?”

            “Well…” Rose bit her lip. “Maybe. If I can’t think of another solution, yes.”

            “…alright. See you, then,” Rosey said before running quickly away. Rose sighed, feeling numb as she watched the gems still revelling around her. She left slowly, quietly, and walked the near-empty streets of the city with no idea what would come next.


	6. Dead Gem Walking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose has one night to live. How shall she spend it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to be long.

            Rose wasn’t going to run with Rosey. She couldn’t. If there was one thing she knew, running with Rosey would just make her more of a target. An off colour on the run was… not good, but she wouldn’t be considered as much of a threat as a seemingly whole and elite gem who went rogue. The Diamonds would be afraid other gems might actually listen to the latter.

            Of course, even if she ran off separately from Rosey… they’d just assume they went together, and Rosey would still be in danger.

            Rose looked up at the star studded sky and bit her lip. There was only one choice then. She… she would just have to stay here and face what comes.

            Letting her feet carry her through the most affluent sector of the city, Rose began to sing.

            “ _Pink Diamond, matriarch of Earth decrees it: by law, tomorrow at dawn, I’m deleted_.” Rose squeezed her eyes shut. “ _I will poof like I don’t matter. In a second, I’ll be shattered. Just twelve hours to live… How I shall I spend them_?”

            Rose stopped to lean against the megalithic side of a tower. “ _I don’t want to live and die like chattel. They all want me to panic… but I won’t rattle! I’ll have my fun till morning’s light_ …”

            But how? Rose looked up and… there was a light in a giant window high above. With a familiar figure that seemed to be dancing in and out of view.

            Well, that looked like some kind of destiny to Rose.

            “ _Yes! There’s an option that I like_! _Spend those short twelve hours getting freaky!”_ Rose laughed and ran across the street to the base of the towering palace that White Pearl was in.

Rose leapt up to a lower window ledge and kept leaping, making her way up the wall with a giant grin on her face. “ _Yeah! I’m here for you, I’m a dead gem walking! I’ve seen your pain, and I’m a dead gem walking! Before they punch my clock,”_ Rose now stood before the giant window and yanked it open a crack with brute force. _“I’m snapping off your window lock. Got no time to knock! I’m a dead gem… walking…”_

As Rose climbed through the window, she found herself with a spear to the throat. She looked at Pearl in shock as the slight gem glared at her for a moment, before the look turned to confusion and the spear lowered slightly.

            “Y-you… you’re that Rose Quartz. What are you doing in my Diamond’s rooms?” She case her eyes about the huge space, clearly made for a Diamond and never for a Pearl. In fact, the two were not even on the floor, but on what was presumably White Diamond’s giant desk, and nearby was a bed that was a generous size for a Diamond, and would be large enough to be a gymnasium for any other gem. The entire space was white and gleaming, and honestly hurt Rose’s eyes a little. White Pearl’s slight movements were the only thing keeping her from fading into the background.

            The thought of this one tiny Pearl, left alone in the giant space for hours and hours, nearly broke Rose’s heart. She smiled at Pearl, and slowly opened both her hands in a placating gesture.

            “Sssh. _Sorry, but I really had to see you_ ,” she sang, “ _I really want to try something here with you_.”

            Pearl regarded Rose with confused suspicion, but that melted to shock as Rose kept going. “Pink Pearl is going to get me killed tomorrow.”

            “Pink Pearl?” White Pearl looked visibly shaken. “She… she can’t have you killed for no reason.”

            “I defended Rosey, my friend. She’s off colour, Pink Pearl is going to tell Pink Diamond when she gets back. I… they’re going to shatter me. I’ve been warned already about this.”

            White Pearl’s eyes were like saucers. “But… they can’t!” She seemed so lost in that moment, and Rose realized that, somehow, White Pearl liked her enough that when Rose was gone she would mourn her. It was an overwhelming feeling.

            Well, it was very clearly now or never. If she was going to be bold, now was the time. And if Pearl kicked her out… well, she wouldn’t have to be sad about it for long.

            “ _Pink Pearl says I have to go, but you’re my last meal on death row_.” Rose winked, and yes, Pearl blushed bright blue. “ _So close your eyes and lose your inhibitions!_ ”

Pearl’s spear vanished and she took a half step forward, looking uncertain, but she wasn’t running away by any means.

            Rose couldn’t stop smiling, it probably looked a bit desperate at this point. “ _Come on! Tonight I’m yours, I’m a dead gem walking!_ ” Rose fell to her knees and held a hand out to Pearl. “ _I’m on all fours, please kiss this dead gem walking!_ ”

To Rose’s giddy amazement, Pearl fell to her knees as well and was reaching for Rose. “ _Let’s go, I know that this is strange. But you don’t have to fear this change. I’ll bend to your will, I’m a dead gem walking!_ ”

            And with that, Pearl was in Rose’s arms, kissing her full of passion and with more desperation than Rose had ever known. It was wet, and feverish, and Rose held Pearl gently but firmly as she tried to cling to her with every part of her body at once.

            Letting out a small laugh, Rose buried her face next to Pearl’s ear and whispered. “ _And you know, you know, you know, it’s cause you’re beautiful_.” Pearl froze in her arms, but became pliant again as Rose continued, “ _You said you’re cold inside, but I can’t agree_.” Pearl let out a tiny sniffle. “ _So Homeworld’s unfair, keep it locked out there! On Earth it’s beautiful. Let’s make this beautiful_!”

            “That works for me!” Pearl said firmly before pulling away from Rose and getting to her feet, grabbing Rose’s hand and encouraging her to follow her as she ran across the desk and looked deviously across the gap to White Diamond’s enormous bed that was rarely used and was mainly for show. Well, they would use it tonight. Rose gathered Pearl into her arms and used her powers fueled by absolute glee to leap right over to the sheets. They two collapsed upon them together, Pearl straddling Rose as she lay on her back and received kiss after kiss.

            “ _Yeah_!” Pearl sang out. “ _Let’s defy doom! I’ll take this dead gem walking_!”

            “ _Let’s wreck the room! Rock this dead gem walking_!” Rose sang back.

            “ _No rest tonight for you_!” Pearl commanded, seemingly drunk off having Rose so willing and beneath her. “ _You’ll do what I want you to_!”

            “Okay, okay!”

            “ _Get your ass in gear, we’ll make this planet disappear_!”

            “Okay, okay!” Rose moaned as Pearl ground down against her.

“ _Squeeze me!”_ Pearl demanded.

 _“Pull my hair_!” Rose sang back.

“ _Touch me there_!”

“ _And there!_ ”

“ _And there_!”

“ _And oh, keep talking_!” Rose hissed as Pearl nibbled her ear.

“ _Oh, oh, hey hey, yeah yeah_!” Pearl sang, clearly enraptured just with the power to make as much noise as she wanted.

“ _Love this dead gem_ …”

“ _Whoa whoa! Hey, hey! Wait, wait_!” Pearl’s clothes dissolved, and Rose’s were quick to follow.

“ _Love this dead gem_!”

The two rolled on the sheets, panting, gasping and moaning together. Skin against skin, every sensation heightened, and Pearl tasted so sweet.

“ _Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!_ ” They sang together.

“Ow!”

“Sorry.”

“ _YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!_ ”  



	7. The Death of Pink Diamond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is no song in this chapter.
> 
> I think this story is going to take a turn in a new direction, now. I'm still going to work the songs in though starting again next chapter. As always, this is a hybrid, and not loyal to either Heathers or SU canon in particular.

Rose wasn’t usually one for sleep, nor was Pearl, but both had managed to exhaust each other enough to fall into a doze deep enough for dreaming.

            It was not a pleasant dream.

_“Well well well, what have we here?” a voice boomed overhead. Rose looked up in horror to see Pink Diamond looming far, far above her._

_“P-Pink Diamond, please, it… it isn’t what it looks like. This isn’t-“_

_“You know, fucking a Pearl? That’s normal. But a DIAMOND’S Pearl? WHITE DIAMOND’S Pearl? This after messing around with that off colour scum?”_

_“Please! It’s not… it’s not their fault!”_

_“Maybe not, but you’ve still soiled them both with your unruly actions. I’m afraid we’ll just have to shatter all of you!”_

_“NO!” Rose screamed, “Just punish me! They did nothing! Leave them alone!”_

_But though Rose ran, she couldn’t get any closer. She saw a shattering block in front of her, and thousands of gems surrounding her, chanting._

_“OFF COLOUR! WHORE! OFF COLOUR! WHORE!” They pointed, and Rose realized on the block were a shiny round Pearl gem, and a slightly elongated Rose Quartz._

_“NO! NO, PLEASE!” But Rose couldn’t get close enough before Pink Diamond smirked, and brought her fist down._

“NO!” Rose bolted upright, breathing hard and shaking. The room was still bright white around her and the window dark, but she saw it was starting to lighten a little with morning twilight. She turned to look at Pearl, and was surprised to see her gem was projecting a scene above her head. Was this… was this Pearl’s dream?

            The scene was simple. It looked to be a fountain spraying from a large disc of water. On the top of fountain was Pearl, dancing and dancing with swords in each hand. Then, from the water, figures seemed to rise. Gems, perhaps, though they seemed to be made of water themselves, like if a Lapis created them. Pearl struck them down easily, one by one until the whole fountain began to shake. She turned, her face in the dream was determined. Rose also noticed that Pearl looked different in her dream. She wasn’t covered in frills and white tresses. Her outfit was still pretty, but functional, and… and full of colour. Even her hair was peach instead of platinum. It looked… right. Rose smiled. So that was what Pearl would look like, had she a choice?

            The shaking in the dream stopped and from the water rose a behemoth of a figure, and it took Rose a moment to realise this… this was a watery caricature of a diamond.

            Rose gasped as Pearl grinned, both in the dream and on her physical face. In the dream, Pearl leapt up and slashed straight down the diamond’s face. It exploded around her.

            She fell back to the surface of the water and appeared to dance now in triumph. She looked… free. So free.

            And then, one more figure came up behind Pearl. She turned on her heel and rose her sword, but then stopped. The sword dropped as the figure approached her, and Rose realised as the two came together in a kiss that this figure was supposed to be… Rose.

            Blushing, suddenly, Rose reached forward to touch Pearl’s arm. In a second, the dream exploded above her head and Pearl jumped to her feet.

            “What? What’s- oh. Rose, i-it’s you,” Pearl blushed blue and smiled shyly. It was adorable and Rose cleared her throat.

            “I just… I wanted to say goodbye.”

            “Oh…” Pearl looked lost. So very, very lost. “Right I… I forgot. Er, that’s silly, I mean I… you don’t… you don’t have to go, you know?”

            “Well, of course I do!” Rose said, absolutely stricken. “I don’t have any choice, if I tried to run, I’d put Rosey in danger. If I go, then… she might be left alone.”

            Pearl summoned her clothes back to her and fisted her hands in her skirt. “I... no! I don’t accept this. You said Pink Diamond hasn’t ordered anything yet, right? It’s just… it’s just Pink Pearl who knows. If we go confront her and…”

            “And beg her forgiveness?” Rose grimaced, but nodded. “Yes… yes that makes sense.”

            “Well,” Pearl clasped her hands and looked up in thought. “Not necessarily what I had in mind but-“

            “I have to go, now, before the Diamonds return!” Rose turned to go, but stopped when she felt Pearl’s hand on her arm.

            “I’m going with you.”

            “No!” Rose gasped. “That… that will just put you in danger too! If I leave now, no one will know I’m here. If you come with me to Pink Pearl, she’ll know we…”

            “I’m going. Are you really going to stop me?” Pearl asked, her voice firm and gaze steady. Rose felt a shiver run up her spine.

            “Ah… no.” Rose cleared her throat. “Alright. Well… let’s go plead for my life, then.”

            “Let’s go,” Pearl nodded, and gestured for Rose to follow her as she grabbed a loose thread from the blanket and repelled down the side of the giant bed, Rose quickly jumping down to follow her.

            Pearl had existed for centuries, and knew the layout of Diamond buildings like the back of her hand, so she led the way through the corridors. Both light on their feet, the two avoided guards in the halls, and hid from many small groups of drunk gems who were returning to their posts from the party, laughing and joking as they went.

While White Diamond was given the most opulent chamber in the Diamond Palace, Pink Diamond was the ruler of Earth and so had her chambers nearby as well, and were nearly as beautiful. Instead of sterile white, everything was in shades of Pink. Now, instead of Pearl nearly blending into the background, Rose was the one who seemed to fade away, save for her white dress of course.

“I’ve never been in here before,” Rose whispered as the two crawled out of the hole Pearl ushered them through. Rose felt like such a mouse among the Diamond’s furnishings, but somehow her own Diamond’s chambers made her feel even smaller than White Diamond’s. The huge canopy bed was so opulent and dominating. The desk was grand and towering. And… and the vanity…

Rose nearly choked. White Diamond hadn’t had a vanity, but Pink Diamond did, and it was… it was positively COVERED in gems and gem shards, embedded in the stonework.

“It… it’s horrible…” Rose whimpered slight, and Pearl hushed her.

“I know,” Pearl hissed back, “This is what the Diamonds are. But we don’t have time. Look for movement, do you see her Pearl?”

Rose scanned the space, but could see nothing indicating the presence of Pink Pearl. “I don’t see her, do you think she’s still at the party?”

“That should be over by now…” Pearl frowned. “Well, if I remember correctly, Pink Diamond’s Pearl has a display cushion on the vanity. We could wait for her up there, maybe it would be better if we caught her unawares.”

“I suppose so…” Rose said, though felt unsure as she picked Pearl up effortlessly and jumped into the air so as to land on top of the vanity. It was more disturbing to see the embedded gems up close. It was strange, but Rose almost thought she could hear… whispering coming from them.

 But sure enough, on one side of the dresser was a soft, very deep pink cushion, and to both of their surprise, Pink Pearl was indeed on it, apparently sleeping off her drunkenness as she sprawled face down, her pale figure standing in stark contrast the darker cushion.

She certainly was beautiful. She slept silently, with a grace to her that Rose wasn’t sure a soldier could ever duplicate.

“Maybe… maybe she’ll just… forget,” Rose suggested after a moment of silently watching Pink Pearl rest. “She was pretty drunk after all.”

“We won’t take that chance.” Pearl said coldly. She walked up to Pink Pearl’s side and without warning, grabbed a fistful of her spiky hair and jerked her upright. She woke with a startled cry, and Rose’s jaw dropped.

“Don’t hurt her!” Rose gasped, horrified as Pearl glared at the startled gem in her grasp.

“I hear you’re planning on trying to get this Rose Quartz shattered. Is that true?” Pearl asked, her voice full of menace. Pink Pearl’s mouth worked wordlessly for a moment, before clearing her throat.

“ _White’s Pearl?_ ” Pink Pearl said, sounding incredulous. “I would expect this from Yellow P, but what the _fuck_? Why do you CARE? She was-“

“I don’t CARE what she was or wasn’t doing!” Pearl growled, pushing Pink away from her now as though disgusted. “She is MINE, you hear me? She’s MINE! If the Diamonds choose to shatter her, so be it, but I will NOT hear that YOU are the reason, understand?”

Pink Pearl seemed to finally gather herself enough to look at Rose over Pearl’s shoulder. She glared. “Damn it, Pearl, you can do better than an off-colour lover, you know?”

“Oh, you mean how YOU could do better than that Bismuth who was finishing up that Spire last time White Diamond visited the Earth colony?”

Pink Pearl’s mouth clipped shut. She paled considerably. “You…”

“Oh, and of course there were those Topaz twins-“

“Wait-“

“And if I remember, oh, and this was EMBARASSING!” Pearl laughed, “Wasn’t there a SCAPHITE-“

“STOP!” Pink Pearl looked thoroughly beaten. “Okay, okay, I won’t say anything! Keep your sexy soldier, I don’t care! It’s about time you have a little fun on the side, so, whatever.”

_“Let me out.”_

Rose stiffened as she felt like her heard a soft whisper begging for help. “Did you hear that?”

“It’s fine, Rose, Pink’s just running her mouth, as usual,” Pearl sniffed. “Honestly, you of all gems, getting on someone’s case for keeping company of non-elite gems? What WERE you thinking?”

Pink Pearl made a soft, annoyed noise as she looked away. “Listen, Pearl, I get that you seem to get on fine being above us all, staying at your Diamond’s feet and getting attention just for your station as WHITE DIAMOND’S Pearl. But some of us actually want to have a little life outside of our Diamonds, okay! And to do that, you need to play at having actual status! And gems with status… they bully, they threaten gems beneath them… Pearl we… we’re Pearls!” Pink Pearl said, eyes wide as if begging for understanding. “We don’t… we’re nothing without our mistresses beside us! The only thing I can do to keep from being pushed around when the Diamonds are away are either to… to hide myself away or… or tear others down!”

_“Where’s Emerald? Where is she? Was she taken? Is she here?”_

_“Want to form… can’t form…”_

_“Who am I? Where am I?”_

Rose felt her heart ache at those words. She was staring at the vanity’s embedded gems now. She didn’t know why, but she could hear them! And they sounded so sad… she… she wanted to help them.

Pearl seemed to force herself to look away from Pink. “Don’t… don’t lecture me about what it is to be a Pearl.”

“Well, I know it’s different for you, anyway,” Pink Pearl muttered, “You can fight. Basically offcolour yourself, in a way, I guess. But at least you can benefit from it.”

Pearl opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly, all three gems froze as a vibration shuddered through the room.

“My Diamond…” Pink Pearl whispered in a mix of reverence and fear. “You… you can’t be here!” She looked at Rose and Pearl wildly. “You… get behind the mirror!”

“Right,” Pearl nodded, grabbing the stunned Rose’s arm and half dragged her around and out of view as the giant door to Pink Diamond’s chamber’s opened. Pink Pearl scrambled to run to the edge of the vanity, and gave a deep curtsey as Pink Diamond entered, stretching and yawning.

“My Diamond. I trust you have a pleasant evening with the other Diamonds?” Pink Pearl said in a loud, falsely cheerful voice.

“Oh, it was pleasantly successful, yes,” Pink Diamond laughed, sending Pink Pearl a giant wink. “Let’s just say, the rebel problem is finally over for good.”

“That… that’s quite a relief, ma’am!”

“It certainly is,” Pink Diamond said with a sigh, spinning her vanity chair around and straddling it, leaning on the backrest as she gave her Pearl her full attention. “Kind of embarrassing though, I really should have been able to handle it alone, but White Diamond was worried… urgh. If I’m her favourite, you’d think she’s trust me, right?”

“Of course, My Diamond!” Pink Pearl nodded along, looking sympathetic.

White Pearl, hidden behind the mirror, scoffed quietly and whispered to Rose. “Honestly, White Diamond plays favourites, but at the end of the day, she sees the junior Diamonds as just… elites. If they ever dared turn on her, she’d wipe them out as quickly anyone else.”

Rose barely heard Pearl though, as she realized the back of the vanity mirror was covered with so many more gem shards, and the sound was nearing a deafening quality. She didn’t even realize she had tears running down her cheeks as she heard them.

_“Get me out!”_

_“It hurts…”_

_“I can’t find her, give her back!”_

_“I want out! I want out!”_

“Rose? Are… are you okay?” Pearl squeezed Rose’s hand and brought the soldier back to herself.

“I… I hear them, Pearl,” Rose whispered, “I don’t know how but… I hear the gems… in the mirror…”

“You… you what?” Pearl hissed, but she looked a little horrified, and more than a little worried. “That doesn’t make any sense. These gems should be… unconscious, at least. But non-operational, they can’t be… conscious.”

“They are though, Pearl,” Rose’s voice shook, “They’re conscious and… and…”

“My Diamond, does this mean your vanity is going to grow even more beautiful?” Pink Pearl asked her Diamond.

Pink Diamond laughed as she looked past her Pearl to admire her glittering, bejewelled mirror. “Oh, I think after tonight, I might be able to dress up a matching one!”

Rose didn’t think. Her mind was full of screaming. If she could have seen the front of the mirror, then, she would have seen Pink Diamond’s giggling form, and in the background twisted faces and images swirling and swirling as they heard her words, and oh they screamed… Pearl was shaking Rose, but Rose wasn’t hearing her. She was moving. She leapt up, she leapt up and her shield formed, and tears fell from her cheeks and onto her shield and she spun, and she spun, and released the shield and Pearl screamed as it hit the vanity mirror from behind, and seemed to lodge into it. The mirror fell forward, and Pink Pearl screamed, and her Diamond yelped and stumbled back off her chair and hit the floor with an earth-shattering thump as the mirror crashed to the ground, and broke apart.

“What the FUCK?!” Pink Diamond yelled, and Pink Pearl… where was Pink Pearl? There was stone and glass everywhere, and the gem shards were…

They were _glowing_ …

Pink Diamond slowly got to her feet, shaking in shock and eyes wide as the gems… they were reforming… they were… oh stars, Pearl and Rose could see from where they stood, they were just… limbs, and monsters, all of them! It was… sick! And wrong! And…  there were so many. So very many. They covered the floor like a violent sea.

“They’re alive?” Pearl whispered in deep seated panic. “They’re alive? How can it be?”

“What… what have I done?” Rose said in a hushed voice as the monsters with mouths screamed.

“D-disgusting!” Pink Diamond croaked, raising a foot and bringing it down on one single arm crawling on the ground haphazardly. It crushed to dust beneath her, but a silence fell, and the monsters turned to their destructor. Their captor. “You disgust me! Off colours and… and failures! All of you! Damn it! I’m going to get someone to clean this up!” Where was her Pearl? She would grab her and-

“ ** _YOU!_** ”

            Pink Diamond paled. No one monster had called this, but it seemed all at once. And it echoed, and they spoke as one, and no whole gem in the room could say how.

            **_“YOU DESTROYED ME! YOU HUMILIATED ME! YOU TOOK HER FROM ME! YOU BETRAYED ME! WE HATE YOU!”_**

“G-get away from me!” Pink Diamond yelped, as the creatures began to crawl toward her. She crushed some under her heels, but there were so many, and they crawled up her, and she was blasting them, but they wouldn’t stop, and even for a Diamond there were TOO MANY AND THEY WERE ALL OVER HER AND-

            “Oh my god, what are they doing to her?” Rose whispered, sinking to her knees, not knowing what to do. “What are they doing?”

            “Look at her _gem_ …” Pearl whispered, suddenly… less horrified. In fact, if Rose had been paying more attention to her, she would have noticed Pearl seemed… intrigued.

            The monsters had reached Pink Diamond’s gem, and even as Pink Diamond tried to tear them off her, and she was screaming so loudly, why was no one coming?

            Wait… Rose saw the door open a crack. Was someone…

            She gasped at the sliver of Yellow face so high up in the doorframe, watching as Pink Diamond was pulled down by the weight of her victims, held to the floor as her gem was slowly hacked away at.

            “My, my, look at all those gem shards, working together…”

            “Y-YELLOW!” Pink Diamond screamed from the floor. “YELLOW, HELP ME! THEY’RE TRYING TO KILL ME!”

            “Hmph, trying is the key word.” Yellow Diamond opened the door and walked in without care. She was alone, where was everyone else? “No, the only gem that could shatter a Diamond is another Diamond. Even a weakling like you applies to that rule.”

            “Yellow, p-please…” Pink Diamond looked more scared now than ever. Rose and Pearl were hiding behind a piece of the mirror’s framework, sharing looks of disbelief.

            “You know, I will never understand why White Diamond favours you, you haven’t earned it,” Yellow snorted. “Honestly, we’ll be better off without you. This planet is… wrong.” Her nose wrinkled. “We never had so many rebels on other planets. Something about this place is off. It breeds disloyal soldiers. We don’t need it, and we certainly don’t need a Diamond that can’t fight off a bunch of… _shards._ ”

            “Imagine being shattered by shards? After accidentally knocking over your own mirror? How embarrassing…” Yellow Diamond laughed, though that stopped quickly. “And… not very believable. Well, we’ll work on the story.”

            “Shattered… you said they couldn’t shatter me!” Pink Diamond snapped, looking angry now, less afraid.

            “Oh, they can’t. But well…” Yellow Diamond hummed, “Perhaps… we missed a few rebels, and they broke in… oh yes, if the rebels killed a Diamond we’d be able to do away with the Earth for sure.”

            “But there are no more rebels!”

            “Of course not. But you’re still getting shattered, and they will be blamed, and that’s that. No sense drawing this out anymore.”

            “But you said only a… a Diamond could…” now Pink Diamond was scared again. She struggled hard, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t move and Yellow Diamond was getting closer. She couldn’t move Yellow Diamond raised a hand and a giant metal staff formed in it and… and…

            Rose and Pearl clutched each other. The sound was piercing, the scream even more so.

            Then there was silence.

            “Hmm… this is quite the mess,” Yellow Diamond mused as the monstrous gems went back to crawling aimlessly and wailing. “Now then, we shall have to come up with how the rebels got in of course…”

            Suddenly, Yellow Diamond froze, as though she heard something. Rose and Pearl froze solid as Yellow’s eyes scanned the room, and then locked on target.

            “You!”

            “P-please, My Diamond!” Pink Pearl gasped. “I… I…”

            “Urgh, I can’t have you talking about-“

            “I-I saw a Rose Quartz shatter Pink Diamond!”

            Yellow Diamond’s face changed from irritation to intrigue very quickly. “Oh, did you, now? That would be… quite a betrayal. Rose Quartzes are made exclusively on Earth after all.”

            “Yes!” Pink Pearl nodded very fast. “A Rose Quartz… b-broke into My Diamond’s chambers and… and incapacitated me! W-when my Diamond came she… she shattered her with a… with a sword! I had never seen such a thing, it… it was terrifying! She… she destroyed the mirror in a… in a misguided attempt to ‘free’ the shards!”

            Yellow Diamond tsked, but smirked as she did so. “Clearly a sign of a… diseased, half-formed mind to think shards are worthy of ‘freeing’.”

            “C-clearly, My Diamond!”

            Yellow Diamond looked at Pink Pearl seriously. “You will tell that story for the other Diamonds, and you will live to sing another day. Understand, Pearl?”

            “Y-yes my Diamond!”

            Yellow Diamond’s hand lowered, and Pink Pearl, distraught and shaking, climbed into it obediently. As Yellow Diamond turned to leave, Pink Pearl caught White Pearl’s eye. She mouthed the word ‘Go’ and made a shooing motion with her hand as Yellow Diamond left the room.

            “First things first, we’ll have to be sure all Rose Quartz gems are quarantined and destroyed.”

            These were Yellow Diamond’s last words before the door shut.

            “I… I can’t believe it,” Rose said, shaking badly herself. “Yellow Diamond, she-“

            “Pink Diamond was… shattered.” Pearl whispered. “It can be done. The Diamonds can be killed.”

            Rose shivered. “They can kill each other…”

            “Well, I bet there’s a way to do it. Maybe shards can’t, but- Rose!” Pearl hurried to follow Rose as she ran and jumped off the vanity into the sea of shards below. She felt such sorrow for them, but she couldn’t help them. She pushed them aside gently, Pearl picking her way behind with more disgust as Rose made her way to where Pink Diamond had fallen.

            She got close to the shards that were too fresh to ever consider reforming. She sank down, and against her better judgement, she placed her hand on a shard, as if to prove to herself it was really there.

            “Pearl…” Rose whispered after a moment, tears flowing hard, she couldn’t stop them.

            “What? What is it?”

            “I hear her… oh Pearl, what have I done?”

            “What do you mean?” Pearl asked, “You… well, you just broke a mirror, Yellow Diamond did…”

            “She’s going to get rid of the Rose Quartzes. She’s going to get rid of Earth. No one would believe us if we spoke against her. If you did, they’d call you hysterical. If I did… they’d just say I was the Rose Quartz that did it.”

            Pearl shivered. “Then… then…” Pearl cocked her head to one side, suddenly. “Suppose… suppose you were the Rose Quartz that did it.”

            “What?”

            “Don’t you see?” Pearl was looking… excited, suddenly. “Yellow Diamond is going to tell the Diamonds that rebels killed Pink Diamond. They probably won’t want it to get out further than that, I don’t know how they will explain Pink Diamond’s death, but if WE go out and claim it was YOU, and we bring… we can bring some of her shards as proof! We have them!” Pearl looked at Rose with wide, brilliant eyes. “We could get so many to follow us, Rose! You, the soldier that killed a Diamond! Me… a renegade Pearl of the Head Diamond! They would follow us, we could lead them against the Diamonds! We could stop this! We… we might not be able to shatter the Diamonds, but if the other gems choose not to follow them, then they won’t have power over them! We could… poof them! Lock them away!”

            Rose looked at Pearl. She looked around at the horrific remains of all these gems shattered before her. She thought of her shards in this pile. Of Pearl’s. Of Rosey’s. Of all the other gems on earth.

            “I…” Rose looked at Pearl with wide eyes. “I think… you’re right.”


	8. Me Inside of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yellow Diamond makes her accusations, and Blue Diamond cries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this three times. Twice with an entirely different premise on how this song was going to go and who was going to sing it and why it was being sung and blah blah BLAH but ANYWAY.
> 
> Am I fully happy with it? No. Am I posting it anyway? Yes. Why? It's fanfiction. I can get away with that shit. Here y'all go.

Yellow Diamond took her time before she reported to White Diamond. First, she took Pink Pearl into a secluded area of the palace, an underground cavern where Yellow usually would torture rebels and prisoners for information. Pink Pearl began to shake as soon as she realized where they were.

            “Please! I, I’m going to co-operate! You don’t need to do this!” Pink Pearl started to stammer and shake as she was placed on the high pedestal in the center of the round room, forced to see walls covered in chisels and hammers, a currently unlit furnace sat looming in a corner with giant tongs next to it, and there were even knives and surgical equipment for experimenting on human prisoners. None of this was half as intimidating as Yellow Diamond hovering above her, however, with folded arms. She was so exposed, there was nowhere to run… she never imagined she would ever be here, and it was terrifying. Not to mention… her Diamond was destroyed. Wouldn’t it just be natural if she was destroyed as well? One wrong move and… and no one would know the truth. Except… except for that Rose Quartz and White Pearl but…

            “I am aware of that.” Yellow Diamond’s clipped tone cut through Pink Pearl’s thoughts. “But down here, we will not be disturbed, and we cannot be disturbed. No one should be entering Pink Diamond’s room until morning, and by then I fully intend to have a plan of attack.” Yellow Diamond then began to pace around the room, running her fingers over the various implements on the wall out of habit. At least, Pink Pearl hoped it was out of habit.

            “O-oh,” Pink Pearl said nervously as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “What… what did you have in mind, my Diamond?”

            “I think you’re going to write something for me.” Yellow Diamond hummed, then snapped her fingers. She pulled a small pad of paper from her clothes and handed it to Pearl. While it was about the size of the Diamond’s fingertip, Pink Pearl found the yellow framed device filled her arms and she was forced to sit and prop it on her knees to use it correctly. She grabbed the pencil attached to it and prepared to write. “You are to write in the scrawl of a soldier, we are going to write this from the perspective of a defective Rose Quartz gem who would go so far as to destroy her natural ruler out of some… inherent wrongness in her design.”

            “Yes, my Diamond. Ready when you are!” Pink Pearl squeaked.

            “Alright. So…” Yellow Diamond hesitated. “To the Diamonds… I, Rose Quartz, killed… no, no scratch that.” She shook her head and Pink Pearl scratched out the words, looking at Yellow Diamond expectantly. “To the… to White Diamond? I…” Yellow Diamond was caught short again. “Oh… I wasn’t made to write false murder confessions!”

            “Er, why do you need a false confession at all? If I just testify-“

            “No, if you testify, then what we have is evidence that one Rose Quartz somehow managed to get into Pink Diamond’s rooms and shatter her. Not only is that… somewhat unbelievable, it also perhaps only means there is a single overpowered Rose Quartz that merely needs to be hunted down and killed. I want White Diamond to see a problem with all the gems made on Earth. I want White Diamond to see this planet as a disease, and that every gem made here should be eradicated, and this colony forgotten!”

            Pink Pearl’s eyes widened and she looked up at Yellow Diamond in horror. “B-but… but I-“

            Yellow Diamond sighed, “Of course, if any Pink gems happen to prove their unwavering loyalty to Homeworld, they will be spared.”

            “Yes…” Pink Pearl looked down at the paper and the scribbled words written and crossed out multiple times. Perhaps she would be spared. The earth… the gems she had been held high above… this world was all she had known except for the single trip she and her Diamond had made to Homeworld in the early days. Would she be sent to Homeworld after this? What… what was going to become of her, a Pearl without an owner?

            As Yellow Diamond thought of the right words for her letter, Pink Pearl cleared her throat.

            “What?” Yellow Diamond asked with narrow eyes.

            “Er, My Diamond, perhaps… perhaps I could try to write something? Only… only I believe, as Pearls are made naturally malleable to suit the needs of their owners, perhaps I could… shape a letter that would suit your needs now?”

            Yellow Diamond huffed, but seemed at least a little thoughtful. “Well, you might as well try, I suppose. But tell me what you are writing.”

            “Yes, my Diamond.” Pink Pearl started on a fresh sheet of paper and paused only a moment as she drew upon what she knew of rebels, and soldiers, and Rose Quartzes, and what it felt like to believe there was only one way to freedom… and imagined what it would feel like to have the guts to take that leap.

            “Dear Homeworld…” Pink Pearl began.

            “ _Believe it or not, I know about fear, I know the way loneliness stings. I hid behind status and pleasant smiles, but underneath wished for more things._ ”

            “Not bad…” Yellow Diamond mused.

            “ _But oh, Homeworld it held me down._ Um…” Pink Pearl tapped her chin with the end of the pencil for a moment before going on, “ _It weighed like a concrete Gem Shard crown!”_

Pink Pearl could almost hear the Rose Quartz singing alongside her. “ _No one thinks an elite gem has feelings! No one sees her insecurity. I am more than muscles and great hairdos! No one sees the me inside of me.”_

            Yellow Diamond snorted. “You’re making her sound like an idiot Agate.”

            “S-sorry my-“

            “No, keep going, I’m starting to like it. Just don’t forget this has to be good enough to fool White Diamond herself.”

            “Y-yes My Diamond…”

*

            Blue Diamond hadn’t stopped crying since Yellow Diamond had burst into the council chambers and nearly slammed Pink Diamond’s shards on the grand table before White Diamond, yelling loudly about how justice needed to be dealt. White Diamond had listened to Pink Pearl’s testimony, and heard how Yellow Diamond had merely been trying to check in with Pink Diamond after last night’s exhausting raid only to find her chambers in disarray, the smashed mirror, a frightened Pearl and… a note.

            White Diamond read aloud, looking from the note to Yellow Diamond repeatedly, as though suspicious at first. But as she went on, the suspicion faded and Yellow Diamond could see her hand began to tremble as she read the tiny words.

            “ _Lower gems only saw my ‘rockstar mystique’ and wouldn’t dare look in my eyes. But just underneath was a terrified gem who just wants to run and hide! My Diamond’s ‘love’ was just like prison bars, it left me a myriad of scars!”_

            Pink Pearl was very proud of her use of the word myriad and smiled a little at it, though cowered quickly when Yellow Diamond sent her a warning look.

            “ _No one thinks a soldier has compassion. That’s a curse of gem society.”_ White Diamond sighed irritably as she went on. “ _I am more than just a Diamond’s plaything, no one sees the me inside of me._ How many times is she going to say that, anyway?”

            “As you can see, this Rose Quartz was flawed deeply in some way,” Yellow Diamond said loudly, “To voice thoughts like this is far beyond what we expect from a Quartz. I think that-“

            White Diamond waved her hand, sinking into her seat at the head of the grand table and leaned back, covering her eyes. “You should cancel gem duties.”

            “What?” Yellow Diamond gaped. “We can’t do that! They’ve hardly done anything worthy of a holiday!”

            “Their Diamond just d-died!” Blue Diamond wailed, and her two fellow Diamonds turned to their sobbing companion as though they just remembered she was there. “Yes, obviously this one R-Rose Quartz… she must be found and made to pay for what she’s done. But her other gems will be devastated! I-I’m devastated…” Blue Diamond hiccoughed a little, but made no move to wipe the streams of tears away from her eyes. “I think… I think we need to gather all the gems into the stadium and just… talk. And feel together. Just for a while.”

            Yellow Diamond looked disgusted at the very idea. “Thank you, Blue Diamond. Call me when you’ve regained your senses.”

            White Diamond was squinting at the paper again. “I’m concerned about this defective Rose Quartz. I’ve never seen a flaw this… pronounced before. This note is so outside of what I would imagine a soldier to be capable of… perhaps it would be better to shatter the entire line.”

            “Yes! Exactly my thoughts, White!” Yellow Diamond said excitedly, though Blue gasped.

            “But… but they were hers!” she looked at White and Yellow as though they were crazy. “Let’s… can’t we just… imprison them, somehow, until we know which one did this at least?” Blue Diamond looked at the paper in White Diamond’s hands. “Let me see the note!” White Diamond shrugged listlessly and handed the note to Blue, who read feverishly.

            _“Let’s take this planet in our hands, and let defective gems stay here. Let’s raise our arms and then attack, let’s show we haven’t any fear! The Diamonds do not rule our hearts, we don’t just have to play our parts!”_

            Blue Diamond’s tears were flowing so fast. Her Pearl was running around her feet to stay out of the way of the drops. Yellow and White Pearl were both absent from the meeting, but Pink Pearl felt she was the only one who noticed. She also couldn’t help but feel like Blue Diamond was over-reacting.

            … perhaps Pink Pearl should be feeling worse about Pink Diamond being shattered, but she felt more scared for her future than sad. Maybe… maybe she was defective too.

            _“No one thinks a Diamond can be beaten, but I’ll show you all that they can be! They will fall and help the Earth by leaving! They will face the me inside of me!”_

            Yellow Diamond watched Blue Diamond fall further apart and growled. “Damn it… fine, let them have a day of mourning.”

            “Yes,” White Diamond nodded. “Though of course, we can NOT let them see that note.” White Diamond startled when she heard a giant door slamming shut. “B-Blue Diamond?”

            “Did… did she just run out of here with that note?” Yellow Diamond said in disbelief.

            “She was always too emotional.” White Diamond shook her head and stood up. “Go stop her.”

            “Me?”

            “Is there anyone else here I could possibly order to stop her?”

            “Oh… yes, of course,” Yellow Diamond swallowed and ran after Blue.

            Pink Pearl watched as White Diamond sat in her chair again, clearly having entirely forgotten that Pink Pearl was still there, sitting quietly on the table. Pink Pearl winced as White Diamond buried her face in her hands and let out a choked sob. She quickly hurried to get off the table and went to see what Blue Diamond was going to do next. Unlike Yellow Diamond, Pink Pearl could use the smaller passageways to catch up.

*

            Blue Diamond worked fast. Before Yellow Diamond could catch up, Blue was already in the middle of the street, attracting the attention of every gem nearby at the sight of a Diamond so distraught. “Attention, all of you!” Blue Diamond announced, “A great crime has taken place last night! The greatest crime any gem has ever known! A rebel has…” Blue Diamond’s voice choked but she rasped through. “Has shattered Pink Diamond!”

            Gasps filled the air, followed by chatter and swearing. Blue Diamond nodded down at her tiny subjects. “I have the confession note here. I will read it to you, and I demand that everyone listen to this. Know this was written by a Rose Quartz, and think very carefully about which one could have done this. She might be among you right now, and I will know which one it is! I will have justice!”

            And so Blue began reading, and Yellow Diamond was caught at the edge of the crowd, panting from effort to catch up (Diamonds are NOT made to run) and absolutely mystified as to how Blue Diamond thought this was a good idea.

            When Blue Diamond finished, she looked down at the gems gathered around her feet. “Well? What do you have to say?”

            “I _… I never knew about her pain_ ,” an Amethyst suddenly sang. Blue Diamond squinted.

            “Do you know who did this?”

            A Lapis Lazuli nearby nodded. “ _There’s only one I think would do-“_

            “Tell me!”

            “ _I knew she wasn’t cruel or vain!”_ a Scaphite whispered.

            “TELL!”

            “ _That shield wench Rose, I know that’s who-“_ a Jasper growled, looking livid.

            “Shield wench, but how could she have…” Blue Diamond’s eyes misted over in thought and she didn’t notice the gems around her murmuring… different things. But Yellow Diamond did. And honestly, this really couldn’t have been going better for her ‘leave Earth for dead’ plan. The whispers were getting louder, Yellow could hear snippets of words around her. Words like ‘rebel’ and ‘incredible’ and ‘horrifying’ hovered in the air.

            A Bismuth was even posturing for a group around her. “I think Rose has the right idea! Why not knock out those in power, take the earth for ourselves, be who we want to be? Maybe the only answer IS death to the Diamonds!”

Now that was certainly dangerous talk.

            “ _My god, look at what she’s done, she’s broken through!”_ Several gems were singing now, _“It could be done? We never knew!”_

Bismuth let out a cry, and Blue Diamond startled backward, now. “ _No one thinks a mere soldier could touch you!”_

            _“Rose Quartz touching me…_ ” a Peridot sighed.

            _“But she’s shown we’re more than we thought we were! Pink Diamond’s dead, and Rose Quartz was the champion! Maybe we should go and follow her!”_

“That’s enough! How dare you say such a thing!” Blue Diamond gasped. The gems around her were rallying.

            “ _Pink Diamond died, and Rose Quartz is our champion!”_

“By White Diamond’s Authority, you will cease!” Yellow Diamond bellowed. There was silence for a moment, in which Yellow Diamond felt relief as things were getting a bit out of hand.

            Then they started to sing again. Was the Bismuth leading them?!

            _“Pink Diamond died, and now we all are free!”_

“That is certainly not the case!” Yellow Diamond snapped, feeling rather horrified. She always knew the earth-made gems were… a bit off, but she NEVER predicted that they would be THIS ready to… to rebel. And some of these gems were even made here! They were given to Pink Diamond as gifts, this planet really was full of poison… Yellow Diamond sent some lightening to poof a few gems closing in on her heels and grabbed Blue Diamond, the two Diamonds taking giant steps and forcing the new rebels to dodge around them for fear of being crushed. “You will all be shattered for this, mark my words!” Yellow Diamond hissed as she pulled Blue along.

            “I… I never thought they would react this way!” Blue Diamond said in a hushed tone. “Perhaps… there is something wrong with Pink Diamond’s colony… something in the soil or… or…”

            Yellow smiled as these thoughts were filling Blue Diamond’s mind. If this kept up, then she would easily be able to get this planet destroyed, everyone would forget Pink Diamond, and she would be White Diamond’s favourite once again!

            Though… she had to admit, it was a bit disconcerting to hear the rising song behind her as Yellow and Blue fled the scene.

            _“Pink Diamond’s gone, Rose Quartz will live forever!”_

_“She’s the bird that sings outside my window!”_

_“She’s the light that shines at every sunset!”_

_“She’s the break my superior denied me!”_

_“Rose Quartz sees the me inside of me! Rose Quartz is the me inside of me! Inside of… me!”_

            And to the sounds of cheering and applause, a Bismuth began to proclaim in rhetoric thought far beyond her station. And though Rose had no way of knowing it as she holed up in a beach cave with Pearl and Rosey as they plotted their next move, Rose Quartz was already the face of a brand new gem rebellion. And the Diamonds would not be able to hide this one.

            Far above the growing decenters, watching from a balcony on the palace, Pink Pearl could not believe her words had moved so many gems. She felt strange, a warm feeling she never felt before. When she looked down, she saw her gem was glowing softly at her belly. And then, a small weighted object sparkled to life in her hand.

            “A… a knife,” Pink Pearl stared at the object, which was small and not especially threatening looking but even so. “I… I have a weapon?”


	9. Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been weeks and Pearl goes to find the rebel army on her own. On the way she runs into some gems she wishes she hadn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for attempted sexual assault in this chapter. No clothes come off, but everyone is uncomfortable.
> 
> Also I'm pretty sure next chapter is going to be a long one.

It had been nearly two weeks. No one could have predicted how much things had changed in that time.

            Yellow Diamond had been given temporary charge of Earth. While Pink Diamond had been cruel behind closed doors, her subjects had been used to gracious smiles and laughter from their matriarch day to day. Yellow Diamond’s strict military discipline was far from what the Pink aligned gems were used to, and this may have helped drive more gems toward a certain Bismuth who was preaching the word of the shield wench Rose Quartz to anyone who would listen. She had been gaining quite a following, and already she and her legion of new rebels had fled the city and set up a camp in the hills not so far away.

            Rumors abounded. Some said that Rose Quartz was a cover up, and that Pink Diamond’s death was an inside job. Some said that this Rose Quartz was defective, something wrong with her mind that simultaneously drove her insane and gave her Diamond-level strength. Some said the Rose Quartz was a part of a secret society that had been developing technology to shatter the Diamonds for years. Some of the more fringe theories involved Rose getting help from the humans who had some sort of unheard of power to shatter Diamonds. Finally, there were some REALLY bizarre theories that Rose Quartz was actually the REAL Pink Diamond all along and had been forced to shapeshift into a lesser form, and was only trying to reclaim her rightful throne.

            Only one thing was certain: neither Rose, nor even her off color friend Rosey, had been seen since the shattering. Furthermore, there were more rumors circulating that White Diamond’s Pearl hadn’t been seen at her Diamond’s side since that night either. A few gems did claim to have glimpsed her running about the city at night on her own, though, but most brushed off these claims as hearsay. After all, what Pearl would ever be seen moving about on her own?

*

            Of course, Pearl was indeed scouring the city for information, as she was the smallest of their group of three, and the best at moving silently. The perfect spy under the circumstances. She had told Rose and Rosey about the brewing rebellion and Bismuth’s leadership with gusto and excitement.

            “I’ve never seen such a thing before!” Pearl said with a giant grin in the beach cave they had been tucked away in for two harrowing weeks.  “More and more gems are joining Bismuth in the hills every day! Blue Diamond is too upset to do much to stop them, and Yellow and White Diamond are trying to stop the rebellion by crushing down with security measures and martial law, though of course that’s just driving everyone further away.”

            “So… should we go to the hills too, then?” Rosey asked hesitantly. “We didn’t before since we thought the Diamonds would fall on them immediately, but since they seem to be holding their own against Yellow Diamond’s troops she keeps sending in…”

            “Yes, my thoughts exactly!” Pearl nodded, smiling warmly at Rosey. They two had gotten along well since they had met formally, with Pearl taking pains to be kind to the off colour, and Rosey seeming to not care at all that Pearl was, well, a Pearl. “What do you think, Rose? Are you ready to meet your adoring public?”

            “I… I don’t know…” Rose nibbled her lip nervously. “I… I know we agreed to lead the gems, to go along with the idea that I shattered Pink Diamond… but I didn’t. How do we explain that? They’re going to ask. They… what if they expect me to do the same to the other Diamonds?”

            “Maybe you shattered her by accident?” Rosey suggested.

            “Then they might get discouraged! They’ve been working so hard to break free of their chains…” Rose sighed, looking forlorn. Pearl straightened and waved her hands frantically. She hated seeing Rose so sad.

            “That won’t happen, I’m sure of it!” Pearl said in a cheerful voice, hoping it would be enough to comfort her lover. “Even if it was an accident, we could encourage them by saying that at least it proves there is some way to do it!” The smile slid off Pearl’s face a little though as a thought occurred to her. “Of course, even if it were an accident they’d want to know what exactly was done…”

            Rosey sighed now as well. “Maybe you should just tell the truth. I’m sure the rebels would believe you, at least.”

            “Maybe that would be for the best after all,” Pearl’s shoulders slumped. “I was really hoping this would make everything better to lead the rebellion, but maybe this lie is going to get too complicated…”

            “No.” Rose shook her head and stood from their small circle. Both her companions looked up at her in surprise at her blunt statement. “They can’t know it wasn’t me. Not now. Pearl, you said that this whole rebellion is based on the idea that I, a mere soldier, could shatter a Diamond. If they find out that it was Yellow Diamond instead, it would… it would shatter their spirits. I can’t do that to them.” Rose brushed a perfect curl out of her face. “But you’re right, this lie is too big to deal with on its own. As much as it pains me to say it… it might be best if I… if I just stay away from the rebels entirely.”

            “ **What**?!” Both Rosey and Pearl shouted in unison. Rose winced as the word echoed around the cave walls.

            “You can both join them of course!” Rose said quickly, “You could… you could tell them I had worked alone. Tell them I… left… or was secretly killed…”

            “We can’t just leave you!” Pearl said hurriedly, “And we won’t!”

            “Do you have a better idea?” Rose asked, with an open, honestly face. It was an honest question. But as seconds ticked by without response, her face tightened with resolve. “That’s it, then. I’ll… I’ll travel the Earth then. I still haven’t seen much of it, after all. Maybe I’ll find a human tribe to stay with?” Rose said thoughtfully.

            “Well, if you’re going to find humans, I’m coming with you!” Rosey said with a smile.

            “I still think we’d be better off with the other rebels… but I won’t leave you either,” Pearl said after a pause. “Are you sure we can’t go… just for a while? To see what they’re getting up to?”

            “ _You_ can,” Rose said gently. “How about this, Rosey and I can stay here for another week. In that time, you can go into the hills and see what the rebellion is up to. If you decide you would rather fight with them, you can either come back to say goodbye, or stay if it’s too dangerous to leave. Or, you can come back and go with us. But it should be your own choice, Pearl. You don’t need to do what I want to do, or what anyone else wants of you. Not anymore.”

            Pearl looked up at Rose with watery eyes and flung herself into Rose’s soft arms. Rosey sniffled in the corner at how beautiful it was as the two embraced and kissed. But as soon as the sun set, Pearl left under the cover of darkness and the two Rose Quartz gems were left to wonder if they would ever see that renegade Pearl again.

*

            The journey to the hills was different than going into the city. The city was well known to Pearl, though she didn’t visit this particular colony that often most cities had a similar layout. Also, the beach they were hidden in wasn’t so terribly far from it. The hills… were much further, and honestly she hadn’t been designed to walk such a very long way. Not to mention she wasn’t even sure WHERE in the hills she was supposed to be going. From the whispers she had a general idea, some rumours, but she wasn’t sure, and that was quite troubling. She had already been walking for nearly a day already and was thoroughly exhausted from crossing Earth’s wilderness, with its uneven ground and completely disorganized arrays of sticks and rocks all over the ground. The streams and ponds were nice enough, but even many of the trees seemed ugly to her with their twisting branches.

            Pearl wasn’t overly fond of Earth, honestly. But she loved Rose, and she wanted to be free. If being on Earth forever granted her Rose and freedom, she would endure the ugliness. Though… maybe a little cleaning up around here wouldn’t hurt.

            The sun was starting to set again. Gems may not need sleep as organic lifeforms do, but Pearl’s body was still aching from the constant exertion. But finally, finally it seemed the rumours about a door in the hills were true. Tucked in a gap between rocks was a big, wooden door. She couldn’t see anyone around, and when she pulled on it and knocked on it nothing happened. Still, it was good to see some sign of civilizations. Perhaps she could just wait a while, surely a guard must be coming back soon…

            “HEEEEEY! It’s a Pearl!” Pearl was startled. “A pretty one, too!”

            “Oh no,” Pearl groaned as she turned to see a Jasper and a big hulking Carnelian that appeared to be on patrol. Sent by the Diamonds to find the rebels, no doubt! Was that why no one was here? Were they hiding? Both Quartzes leered at her, but were stumbling slightly… were they intoxicated? She tried to summon her spear… but only sparkles appeared. Was… was she really so tired? She did feel a bit faint… oh no.

            “Hey, come have some fun with us, little Pearl!” the Jasper called lewdly, “Where you running off to anyway?”

            “Urgh,” Pearl made a face. “You’ve got your own hands! Use them!”

            “Don’t talk mean like that!” the Carnelian whined. “You’ll hurt their feelings!”

            “Hurt… what?” Pearl was backing up to flee, but paused at such a weird statement.

            “ _You make my boobs so blue_!” Jasper… started singing. About her boobs. That… wow.

            “ _You hurt them badly_!” Carnelian chimed in.

            “ _You make my boobs so blue_.” Jasper clutched her chest.

“ _They're hangin' sadly_.”

“ _What did they do to you, that you hate them so_?” Pearl turned to go but Jasper grabbed her arm. _“Don't run from me_ –“

“ _They're all beat up like a tackling dummy_!”

Pearl let out a yelp as she was lifted off her feet. She was smooshed between the two larger gems’ breasts as they held onto her in a drunken hug.

Carnelian kept the song going. “ _They long for your embrace_!”

 _“They're warm like mittens_!”

“ _They'll curl up on your face_ ”

“ _And purr like kittens_!”

Seriously? Pearl managed to squirm enough to get loose from the pair, but they were still pursuing her as she ran off the path into the bushes now. She was so tired… why now? Why here?”

Carnelian’s voice still rang out loud and boisterous. One might of thought she was just playing a game. Well… it probably was a game to them. “ _You make my boobs so blue_! _Just look at them glow_...” Pearl glanced over her shoulder and saw the Carnelian’s gem on her left breast glow red before she pulled a whip from it. Pearl let out a short scream as she whip laced out and wrapped around her leg, pulling it out from under her and yanking her back toward her assailents.

“ _We're beggin' you_!” Jasper grinned. “ _Don't make my boobs so blue_!”

With a few choice kicked, Pearl did manage to get free of the whip and ran for the door, hammering on it hard. “Please! Please open the door!”

There was a flurry of movement high above. Pearl looked up wide eyed to see what seemed to be a pair of Aquamarines sitting atop the gate. Were they… grinning?

“ _Oh no, oh no no no_!” They sang down at her. That… this couldn’t be right! Pearl must have heard wrong!

“Open the door!” Pearl tried again.

“ _Oh no, oh no no no_!” They sang again. Pearl felt a chill run sharp down her spine as she felt breath on her neck and both her shoulders were grabbed at again.

“ _You make my boobs so blue! So please say hello_!” Carnelian laughed.

“ _Hold ‘em_!” Jasper added.

“ _Enfold’em! And never let go!_ ”

Carnelian’s tongue moved along Pearl’s neck, and she squawked in indignation.

“Do you have any idea who I am?!” Pearl screamed.

Carnelian snorted. “ _We know you’re weak and you’re pretty.”_

Jasper was grabbing for her legs and Pearl was kicking out as hard as possible, tears in her eyes now. _“You’re made for the city.”_

_“You’re unsatisfied,”_

_“But what your owner wasn’t doing, we’ll do!”_

_“So stick with us, and be our servant!”_

The two Quartz grinned and suddenly dropped their hold on Pearl, instead grabbing her now by the hand and sending her out in a twirl. Were they… were they dancing with her? She… she was NOT their toy to just…

“ _They’ll wear a suit and tie, and a fancy collar!”_

_“They’ll sing a lullaby!”_

_“LA LA LA LA LA!”_ The soldiers sang together as Pearl was dipped between them. Well… fine. If they wanted to dance, Pearl would dance!

 _“Please make these boob not blue, just for a while!”_ Jasper let out a happy sigh now as Pearl swallowed her fear and panic and put on a smile, sliding now around the soldiers, dragging part of her leg just a little over Jasper’s groin and letting the side of her hand graze the soldier’s breast. The effect was instantaneous and Jasper let go in a full body shudder.

“ _Can’t wait till later_!” Carnelian perked up as Pearl appeared to be getting into the attention at last. “ _My shirt is rubbing like a hot cheese greater_!”

“Oh, er,” Pearl had been attempting to make a slight move on Carnelian as well, but had to duck as the gem tried to kiss her. “D-do you have any more booze around? I uh, I’d like some too!”

“Huh?” Jasper looked confused for a second, then smiled again, seeming more easy now that Pearl seemed less flighty. “Yeah, sure! I’ll get you some!”

“I do love a gem who gets me something to drink!” Pearl said loudly.

“Oh! I’ll help!” Carnelian said quickly and both started to head for the trees.

“ _They will protect you!”_ Jasper sang as they headed into the trees. Pearl backed up herself, glancing up long enough to see the Aquamarines giggling.

“ _Defend you_!” Carnelian chimed in, further away.

“ _Respect you_.”

“ _Befriend you_ –“

“ _Like a Quartz at the zoo_!”

“ _A Quartz at the zoo_!” The Aquamarines were singing above too now?! Were they… looking to block Pearl’s escape? Pearl shivered under their glinting eyes. She had been sure to alter her clothes and hair a bit since running, but if they got closer surely they would know exactly whose Pearl she was.

 _“My boobs will work for you_.”

The Quartzes were out of sight, but she could hear them, and with the Aquamarines above…

 _“They will obey ya!_ ”

_“They really need rescue!”_

_“Like Princess Leia!”_

Suddenly, lasers blasted out of a tree nearby. One Aquamarine was hit in mid-air, falling as she poofed. Then the other followed. Pearl’s jaw dropped. And still that stupid drunken song was coming from so very, very close.

“ _Baby, you got to come through_.”

“ _Teach them to smile_!”

“ _You got no clue how much these two depend on you -- Please help them through_!”

“ _My boobs are in your court_!”

From the trees descended four small Scaphites and a very elegant looking tall pair of Jades holding glistening green long bows.

“Wh-who are you?” Pearl asked the Jades hesitantly, bowing her head at such rare and exquisite gems. The Jades did not answer, but one of the Scaphites did. A dull, grey little thing with a wrinkled face and beady eyes.

“You’ll address me, missy! I’m the one in charge here!” the Scaphite announced. “And I’d know White Diamond’s Pearl anywhere. Is it true that you are helping The Rose Quartz with her quest to end the Diamond regime?”

“I… I am,” Pearl nodded slowly, unsure if she could lie. These had to be the rebels. The Diamonds would never allow a Scaphite to speak over a Jade, even as a trap. There were brief murmurs and gasps from the others in the group.

“Then come with us, quickly. This door wasn’t ours, the Diamonds made it to trap those who try to join us,” the Scaphite spat in the door’s direction and gestured for Pearl to follow. “Hurry! We have much to discuss!”

“Yes… yes of course!” Pearl nodded quickly. And as the group vanished into the trees again, Pearl followed, feeling a lot safer now even though she knew in truth none of them were really safe.

*

Carnelian and Jasper were still singing in the woods as they struggled to pick up all the glass bottles they had been using to celebrate catching a whole hoard of wanna-be rebels earlier in the day.

“ _You make my boobs so blue_!”

“ _You shake them, you quake them_ ,” Carnelian laughed as she and Jasper high fived on their way back to the little clearing they left that pretty Pearl in.

 _“My boobs! You make my boobs so blue!_ ”

As they entered the clearing, both belted out the last note. “ _Please make their dreams come true,  
and make these boobs not blue_!”

            It took exactly one second of silence before they realised the Pearl was gone.

            “Aw shit,” Carnelian muttered as she hurried forward and picked up one of the Aquamarine gems on the ground. “I think the rebels stole her.”

            “Stupid rebels, ruin everything!” Jasper pouted. “Well… since the lookouts are gone… wanna go make out with each other?”

            Carnelian looked at Jasper for a bit in her drunken fog, then shrugged. “Yeah sure okay.”


	10. Kindergarten Girlfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosey and Rose are discovered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen. I started writing this chapter for Our Love is God and then realized... this story isn't at a logical place for that song yet. I needed a logical place for it.
> 
> Well, this was needed to make that place happen. And in order to make this chapter happen, I had to move a song that happens far later in Heathers happen now.
> 
> But I dont think it's that big of a deal. Anyway, it's not perfect, but what in this world is?

**Kindergarten Girlfriend**

            Pearl had been gone almost a week already. Rose and Rosey had been waiting patiently in the cave during the day, only leaving after the sun had gone down to enjoy fresh air and to play a little in the sand and water by moonlight. Rosey seemed happy enough to wait for Pearl’s return, but Rose was… nervous. She hadn’t realised how much she had grown to rely on Pearl’s continuous updates from the city, and it was nerve-wracking to be so close to the city and have no idea what the inhabitants were up to. How many gems had joined the rebellion now? Pearl had said at least an eighth of the whole city had already fled to the hills when she had left. Was there more now? How were the Diamonds responding to that?

            Pearl had also said every Rose Quartz in the city had been rounded up. She wasn’t sure if they had been shattered or not, but presumed that they had to have been, why would the Diamonds allow dangerous gems to live, after all? Rose had been horrified to learn that. Were she and Rosey the last Rose Quartzes alive then? Were there others that had fled the city in the initial culling?

            And perhaps most importantly, were they still actively looking for her and Rosey? Rose didn’t know. She hoped Pearl would come back if only to give her one more report before leaving again. That might have been a selfish thought, but with every passing day Rose knew it became more dangerous to stay on the beach.

            On the sixth night, as Rose and Rosey stood in the water looking up at a full moon together, hands linked in friendly companionship, there was a strangled shout from behind them. Both Rose Quartz turned and gasped to see a Jasper staring at them. A very particular Jasper. Facet 139-C, Cut 53-A to be exact. Although her jumpsuit now bore a yellow Diamond insignia instead of a Pink one. She was already backing up.

            “You’re still alive?!” she snapped, sounding… horrified. “I… I’ve got to tell Yellow Diamond!”

            “Rosey, fuse with me!” Rose said quickly. Rosey nodded and within a couple of twirls, the two glowed and now a Rose Quartz twice as tall as the Jasper with two gems nestled beside each other at her stomach stood glaring down at the interloper.

            “We can’t let you leave.” Rose Quartz said as they slowly reached for Jasper who was running from them. Rose Quartz grabbed at Jasper, but in a moment a long gleaming sword struck at her fingers and Jasper scrambled out of reach.

            Rose was scared of being found. They couldn’t leave while Pearl was still gone! She… she would have to poof Jasper. Rose Quartz raised a giant hand.

            Rosey was scared too. She… didn’t want to hurt this Jasper. Rose Quartz hesitated.

            “You have to stop-“ Rose Quartz cut herself off, “Stop, don’t hurt her, please! Why? She was my- She’s going to get us killed! I CAN’T!”

            Jasper ran for it as Rose Quartz glowed and destabilized. Rose and Rosey fell to the ground, dizzy from the sudden loss of power. Rose came to herself first, however, and did not hesitate to give chase. She summoned her shield. Jasper looked over her shoulder and laughed.

            “A shield? Still that old trick? HA! What good is a shield going to-“ Jasper let out a gasp as Rose’s shield was flung at her and struck her straight on the gem with a loud thunk and crack. She was still for a moment, then poofed. Rose hurried to the fallen gem and bubbled her quickly, carrying her gently back to the beach to see Rosey still where she had left her, face buried in her hands. Rose shivered as she handed the bubble to Rosey, who seemed more distraught to see the crack.

            Rose knelt beside her friend. “Rosey… why did you do that? You know we couldn’t let her tell on us. Once Pearl is back we can let her go but till then…” Rose shivered. “I… I didn’t mean to crack her gem… what have I done?”

            “I know,” Rosey said with a slow nod, eyes wandering to the bubbled gem in her hands. “I just… I know it’s been years. It’s silly but… I was always fond of this Jasper. Once we were… close. We hid it but…”

            “You did mention…” Rose shook her head. “She’s so unkind to you now… I don’t understand how you can still have feelings for her after the way she’s treated you.”

            “I know it’s silly,” Rosey absently took the bubble into her hands, gazing with forlorn eyes upon it. The waves of the ocean made a soothing background as her soft, steady voice rang over the beach. “ _There was a gem I met in the Kindergarten. She was sweet, she said that I was smart. She was good at sports and others liked her, and at rest time once we shared a rock._ ” Rosey closed her eyes and Rose drew her knees to her chest. Rosey seemed to glow under the silver light of the stars, with a soft pink glow from the bubble lighting her face. _“I didn’t sleep, I sat and watched her breathing. Watched her dream for nearly half an hour. Ooooh, ooooh, oooh, oooh, ooh… then she woke up.”_

            “Rosey…” Rose felt her heart break as a tear fell from her face and hit the bubble, making it glow slightly harder under the impact.

            “ _She squished a frog one day during drills. Kissed me quick and pressed it in my hand. I took that frog and hid it in a seashell. All year long I wore it near my heart.”_ Rose remembered that shell. She… didn’t realise there had been the remains of a poor frog inside it. Well, Rosey had always had… stranger sentiments. “ _She didn’t care if my gem was shaped wrong, and she was mine until we left training grounds. Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh, ooh… then she woke up.”_

            Another tear fell on the bubble over the cracked gem within. Rose wasn’t sure but it had looked almost as if the tear itself was glowing…

            Rosey let out a breathy little laugh as she continued her song. She likely found it silly, but Rose… Rose found it moved her with sadness. “ _Last night I dreamed a horse with wings flew down in front of me. On its back, there she sat, and she held out her arm. So we sailed above the city, across the hills and plains. My kindergarten girlfriend and I, and a horse with wings.”_

            Rose watched the tears fall faster. They were definitely glowing as they hit the bubble over and over, sliding off it to hit the sand. Rose looked down and in surprise she saw her own tears falling too… and they too sparkled with a pink glow in the darkness as they landed on her skirt that was billowed out around her.

            _“Now we’re all soldiers, and we know better. Now we recognize the way things are. Certain gems are just for kindergarten, certain gems are meant to be apart._ ”

Rosey took a deep breath and finally looked up at Rose, and both Quartzes looked at each other in the dark with tears streaming down their faces, a cracked and bubbled gem in Rosey’s lap. The Diamonds themselves out to get them. White Diamond’s Pearl out in the wilderness perhaps trying to reach them at this moment. And Rosey sang, sweetly and sadly, of a bygone romance on the beach where they had watched so many sunsets.

            Why had things gone this far? This way? Rosey wasn’t done singing just yet.

            _“But I believe any dream worth having is a dream that should not have to end. So I’ll build a dream that I can live in, and this time I might not wake again. And we’ll soar above the trees, over palanquins and spires. Past the temples and the lakes, and the humans in their tribes. We will fly through the dawn, to a new kindergarten! Where rest time is centuries long… oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh…”_

            Rosey’s voice died away. The Quartzes sat on the beach in silence then, for a time.

            Then Rose said: “We should go back to the cave. Someone might come looking for Jasper.”

            “THERE THEY ARE! THEY CRACKED THE JASPER, AND FUSED! I SAW THEM!”

            Rose and Rosey scrambled to their feet in shock as a bright pink Sapphire ran out of the tree line, smiling and clapping happily. She was followed by many other gems who did not look happy at all. Elite soldiers and other gems, Jades and Amethysts, Agates and sneering Emeralds. So many… were the Diamonds on the way too?

            “These… these aren’t the resistance… I assume…” Rosey was backing up fearfully. Rose grit her teeth and summoned her shield, holding it up toward the advancing gems.

            “Stay back! We don’t want a fight… but we will fight if we must!” Rose said loudly, unsure how effective the threat of a shield wench would be. But indeed, the mob paused, looking unsure now.

            An Amethyst tried to move forward but an Emerald held up a hand.

            “Careful! Remember, this Quartz shattered a Diamond, somehow. Don’t be rash, that’s likely what ended up getting that Jasper cracked.”

            Rose looked back at Rosey. Should they fuse again? No… she was still emotional over Jasper, she was a liability now.

            One of the Emeralds summoned a flail from the gem at her shoulder and advanced on Rose, swinging it high above her head, though she was moving slowly and with purpose. Around her, her fellow gems followed her lead, summoning weapons and coming toward Rose and Rosey as they were backed up against the ocean.

            Well… they didn’t… they didn’t need to breathe anyway.

            “Rosey, we’re going to run!” Rose yelled, wasting no time in dashing way, grabbing Rosey’s wrist as she did so and heading straight for the water. Rosey followed the best she could but… she was never quite as fast as the other Quartzes, and was always a little clumsy, and as she tripped over a stray seashell Jasper’s bubble slipped from her fingers and rolled away from her.

            “Jasper!” Rosey gasped and shook Rose loose to chase the bubble.

            “Rosey, leave her! There’s no point in taking her now, anyway!” Rose insisted, but even as she spoke the other gems let out battle cries and descended. There was no time, Rosey was knocked to the ground and three gems attacked her at once, spouting slurs and insults as they did so. Rose let out a roar and tried to throw herself into the fray but… there was just too many. She poofed a couple with her shield, but it wasn’t enough. She looked toward where Rosey went down and…

            And…

            Shards. Oh god. Oh god _no!_ They… they had…

            Tears, an endless stream now, battered down Rose’s face as a deep throaty sob left her throat. And as it did, as she fell to her knees and covered her mouth, a bright pink light flashed in the air around her in a bubble shape and shot outward. Every gem around her was knocked back, most of them poofing on impact. When the light faded, Rose did not even think to process what had just happened beyond one, horribly numbing fact.

            Rosey was shattered. Rosey was… was _gone_ …

            Rose stared at the shards in the sand. She… she couldn’t leave them there. Not to be more… more jewellery for the Diamonds. Rosey deserved so much more… so much more than this. Rose glanced around to see the few gems that remained watching her fearfully. Rose glared at them, bent to scoop up the shards and bubbled them quickly. She then drew herself up to full height, and jumped straight up into the sky, aiming as far out to sea as possible.

            She would flee for now, and then, she supposed, she would double back around and head for the hills. It looked as though she would be joining the rebels after all, no matter what further lies she had to tell.

            Rosey had to be avenged. Though, perhaps, she would look for some more reinforcements before heading directly to the rebel fortress…


	11. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Rose have been separated for a time.
> 
> This is what they get up to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No song in this chapter, but next chapter will. There will also be a time skip in the next chapter.
> 
> Pearl and Rose both have things to learn about themselves.

            Pearl was unable to easily go to the city and spy now that she was in the hills with the rebels, so her information came exclusively from newcomers and the rebel spies that had powers more naturally suited to espionage. Traffic in and out of the city was monitored heavily now, and it was so far away that Pearl would need to find hiding spots during the day if she were to go. In any case, she had gone to the rebels specifically to find out if she would be welcome there, and if she wanted to stay with them and fight when the time came.

The Scaphites and Jades who had found her had been hailed heroes by the rebels, and Pearl had been quickly brought to Bismuth, who had set up a forge in the centre of the base and seemed to be working constantly to create weapons for the entire resistance. She had stopped, however, to heartily greet Pearl with a giant winning smile and a slap on the back that had sent Pearl stumbling forward. But in a way, to be treated so roughly so readily was refreshing. In that moment, Pearl began to think that she could be very happy here indeed.

            So far, she was becoming surer by the day that this is where she was meant to be. At last, she was seeing a society she had dreamed about. A place where gems of every cut and colour could live together, where your value was based on your deeds, not your birth assignment. It wasn’t perfect, there were still scuffles as different gems slowly came to terms with each other. Elite gems were learning to accept underlings as equals. Underlings were learning that not every elite soldier would toss them aside at a moment’s notice.

            And Pearl was thriving off of the respect that she was given. It was a little tainted by the fact she was given respect more for a reflection of Rose’s perceived accomplishment than her own, but at least it was acknowledged that she made a choice to follow Rose instead of the Diamond she had been long ago built for. That was something, and once she joined the rebels on the training grounds and openly displayed her prowess with her spear and how her agility and flexibility were great boons in battle, she began to gain respect of her own, as well. Bismuth herself had come to her third training session, and and had told her that she had been struck by inspiration and would get back to her within a week. Pearl had wondered what for, but Bismuth had run off straight after.

            Pearl had been ready to travel back to the beach when word got to the rebels that there was a huge swarm of loyal Homeworld soldiers swarming the fortress. With a heavy heart, Pearl forwent her return to Rose in order to pick up her spear and fight with the rest of the rebels against the invaders. In the middle of the fray, Pearl had taken out multiple Carnelians in a row before one came behind her and managed to trip her up with a whip. Pearl had feared this was it when a flash of rainbow coloured hair followed by the blow of a powerful war hammer smashed into the Carnelian, making her whip dissipate and Pearl stood quickly, shocked to see Bismuth send her a smile and a thumbs up.

            “You keep getting them, I’ll watch your back, okay? You’re doing great!” she had said, and Pearl had nodded numbly and continued her onslaught.

            There had been a decisive victory for the rebels and the Homeworld gems were chased off, many of the fallen bubbled and taken as prisoners. There had followed a great party, even those with smaller cracks and fractures had left the infirmary (an idea taken from Human tribes, as the gems before had had no such thing) to attend, but Pearl mourned, because she knew it was too late now to go back to Rose. They would have left by now, but, at least, they would be safe.

            Or so Pearl had thought.

It had come to Pearl as horrible rumours. A discovery at the beach. Rose Quartz mercilessly cracking another gem with the help of an offcolour gem. There had been a shattering, but there was disagreement over whether it was The Rose Quartz or the offcolour that had been shattered. Either way, the other had taken the shards and escaped.

            Pearl knew it was selfish, but in her deepest heart she prayed that it was her Rose that lived.

            It was a few days after the battle when Bismuth approached Pearl. She had been among those acting lookout at a small hole cut into the side of the hill the rebels had hollowed a cave system out of, far above the door at the base. It had been a quiet day with little to see beyond the distant city skyline. Pearl was on duty with one of the Jades that had rescued her, and had spent much of the morning speaking quietly with her of court matter of the past, and how freeing it felt to be a part of the rebellion now. But they were interrupted by a loud clearing of a throat, and both turned to see Bismuth at the mouth of the lookout room, smiling awkwardly with her hands behind her back.

            “Hey, so um, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get this to you before the big battle, but I thought I was going to get more time. I made you something that will really let you show those Homeworld gems what we’re made of!”

            Then Bismuth revealed what she had behind her back, and Pearl gasped.

            “They… they’re beautiful…” Pearl breathed as she walked slowly toward Bismuth, openly admiring the two long rapiers that she held before her. Each had an elaborate handle, and we long, elegant, sharper than anything she had seen.

            “I know you’re great with that spear,” Bismuth said quickly, “But imagine the damage you could do with a sword in each hand! It’ll be a change in fighting style, but I think you could definitely handle it, and these won’t disappear. You get the momentum in, it’ll still dissolve a gem’s physical form even if you get hit mid-strike. I don’t think just any fighting gem could handle a set of weapons like this, but when I saw you fighting, I knew you could!”

            Pearl struggled to find words. “I… thank you, Bismuth. This… this means more than I can say. I mean, are they… really for me? Just me?”

            “Well, I did make them for you, so… yeah!” Bismuth grinned at Pearl’s awe. “Wanna try them out?”

            Pearl nodded slowly, taking one sword and then the other from the bigger gem, holding each in her hands. They weighed the exact same, their balance unmatched.

            “Want to try sparing with me, Pearl?” Jade asked from behind her. Pearl turned with a start, having entirely forgotten that Jade was even there. Jade was smiling. So was Bismuth. They liked her. They valued her.

            Rose… Rose was gone, either into the world or into the void. But Pearl was needed here. Wanted here. She would miss Rose, always, but she had to move forward. Rose wouldn’t want her to just sit around mourning her forever. She would fight better than ever. She would strengthen herself, and she would destroy the Diamonds, Homeworld itself, for tearing her away from her lover. For enslaving her. These gems understood. She would have glory and respect of her own! She would reinvent herself as many times as needed!

            If she was lucky, if the stars aligned, maybe one day she would see Rose again. Until then…

            Pearl smirked. “Alright, show me what you’ve got!”

*

            Far away from Pearl, far from the city, even past the hills and into the forests of Earth, Rose had fled with the bubble of shards. There were no gems out this far, but Rose knew there were human tribes around here somewhere, because this was the forest Rosey had brought her once to introduce her to the cute humans she had befriended.

            Rose had always loved humans. They were so funny! And so cute, and so interesting with their love of keeping pets, like tamed wolves and those strange creatures that looked like humans but were small and made strange noises… Rosey called them ‘babies’. And they were cute too! But Rosey had always been closer with the humans that Rose was, she was always a little awkward with them.

            But now she wanted their help. If nothing else, she would trust them to care for Rosey’s shards. That would have to be enough.

            It took two days of searching the forest, periodically calling for any nearby humans to come to her before she stumbled across a few in the forest. They had simple spears with them, and looked at her with wide brown eyes as she approached with her free hand raised.

            “Please, don’t be afraid, little humans!” Rose said in as gentle a voice as she could make.

            “Rosey?” One human, a female she was pretty sure, asked as she took a tentative step forward but was stopped by what appeared to be a male next to her.

            “Not Rosey. Rose.” The male nodded. “I have met her, though. She is like Rosey, not the other strangers who harm us.”

            Rose perked up at the recognition. “You… oh, you’re the human Rosey brought to the beach! You met the Amethysts too, right?”

            “Yes,” the human nodded. “I am called Amois.”

            “It’s lovely to see you again, Amois,” Rose said most sincerely.

            Amois looked up at Rose and blushed slightly. The two females with him giggled and elbowed him in the sides. “Er, excuse my sisters! I… I’m lovely to see you- I mean, it’s lovely to see you too!”

            Rose giggled. Humans were too cute. But… Rose looked at the bubble in her hands and bit her lip. “Amois, I have a favour to ask of you.”

            “A favour?”

            “Yes. You see…” Rose shivered. “I’m sorry… it’s difficult to say… Rosey… Rosey has been… shattered.” The humans stared at her. Rose realized her error. “Oh! You don’t… right. She… we were hiding, in hiding from the- from our… from our leaders. They found us and I got away but Rosey was…” She couldn’t say it. Instead she held out the bubble so they could see the pink shards floating within it.

            It seemed the smaller female made the connection first and gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. “Rosey is dead?” Rose could only nod, helplessly, as the young human began to cry. The other two were soon to follow.

            “We will mourn her,” Amois said softly. “Thank you for telling us. Is the favour for her? She was always so kind to us. She helped hide the little ones from your soldiers. She helped our crops grow stronger… healed our injured. We would do anything to repay her.”

            Rose looked at Amois in surprise. How often had Rosey been visiting these people? And what had she been sharing with them that helped things grow, or healed organic lifeforms? Well, that didn’t matter for now. “This bubble… this bubble contains what is left of Rosey. I’m going to have to go somewhere dangerous. There’s a rebellion among my people, and I’m going to join the fight so that gems like Rosey won’t be killed ever again. But it won’t be safe, and… I don’t want what is left of Rosey to be taken by the ones who hurt her. She always spoke fondly of the humans here, would you take her shards and protect them?”

            Amois looked at Rose with wide eyes. “Truly, you would give us her bones to care for?” He looked at the bubble with a gaze akin to reverence, mimicked by the other two. “I… yes, yes, of course we will take care of her.” He looked back up at Rose. “Please, you must have journeyed far to get here. Please, come rest in our village for a while. We can show you what Rosey has done for us, her friend should know the good she is responsible for.”

            To see a whole village of humans up close? How could Rose refuse? She agreed and followed the humans, who excitedly told her that Rosey started visiting them regularly less than a year ago… Rose realized quickly that she must have started aiding the humans regularly not long after Rose had been inducted into Pink Diamond’s inner circle.

            The village was lovelier than Rose could have imagined.

            A number of long wooden houses formed a ring around the edge of a clearing where several humans were busy doing a number of activities, from cutting wood to weaving baskets, hanging up wet garments and singing songs. All the while, the small creatures called ‘children’ ran around them, laughing and clapping. It was so peaceful, so… nice. And when Rose entered the village behind her guides, all the humans looked up at her and smiled.

            But then they really looked at her, and realised she wasn’t Rosey. They looked at Amois, who had raised his hands in the air, holding Rosey’s bubble aloft. Rose stood by awkwardly as Amois explained to the gathering humans what had occurred, and Rose felt pain in her heart as the humans one by one began to weep openly for their lost friend.

            Humans were… so openly emotional. Rose wished she knew how to be like that. To weep so easily. Rose hadn’t been able to shed a single tear since Rosey’s shattering. She didn’t know what stopped her, she just felt… hollow. Empty.

            After several minutes of mourning, a human with a heavily lined face stepped forward to take the bubble from Amois. The new human raised the bubble above their head and declared that they would hold a celebration to honour Rosey’s life, and the good she had done.

            The wrinkly human turned to Rose with eyes that showed deep kindness.

            “You, of course, are welcome to join us.” The man smiled. “If you are the Rose she spoke of to me, then you have more than earned the right to hear her story, and are welcome to tell your part of it as well.”

            “I… thank you. I would be honoured.” Rose bowed her head, and was lead by Amois and his sisters off to a group of humans who were now beginning to bring out and prepare a great deal of food. Rose didn’t eat, of course, but when she was handed a knife she learned how to peel potatoes rather quickly.

            Rosey’s celebration was beautiful. Rose had watched the humans decorate the area with flowers and tapestries, and Rose was surprised to see so many that showed a Rose Quartz emblem the exact shade of pink as Rosey’s pale hair. There was music, and dancing, and singing, and a great bonfire to light the party into the night. Rosey’s bubble held a place of honour nearby the whole night. The humans ate and drank, and told stories Rose had never known.

            About Rosey using only her gem-weapon, a long, sturdy club, to fend off a group of wolves that were attacking one of the village’s children, only to attend to the wolves after and heal their wounds.

            Of Rosey finding one of the female humans who had fallen off a cliff and getting her safely back to her people, and ‘healing her with her sorrow’ (though Rose did not know what that meant, it sounded nice.)

            One story was of Rosey going into the nearby fields during a famine many months prior. No one knew what she had done that day only that by the next morning the field was full of the most bountiful crop of plants that the village had ever seen.

            Rose joined in the telling. She spoke of Rosey’s bravery, of how she faced persecution among her people every day and yet still maintained a positive attitude. How she was always willing to help whoever needed it. Of how she had been trying to protect those she loved, even until her death.

            The stories lasted well into the night, and by the time the fire died, Rose thought she saw the bubbled shards glimmering of their own accord. Though it was probably just the dying embers. Rose would like to think Rosey might have been aware of the songs and the love surrounding her broken form. But deep down, she knew Rosey would never be aware of anything, again.

            In the dark, as the humans cleared things away and headed into their longhouses, Rose wept. She wept and wept, and the humans would touch her shoulders gently as they passed her. They left her to sob out her sorrow to the earth, and though gems do not need to sleep, Rose managed to do just that as her crying exhausted her so.

            In the morning, she would wake high in the air, in the branches of an enormous peach tree, in the center of the village.


	12. Our Love is God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Rose are reunited at last. Surely this can only be wonderful.  
> Surely.  
> Surely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. That uh, that Jungle Moon, huh?
> 
> HOLY FUCKTRUCK WELL THEN I MEAN SHIT I KNEW MY FIC WASNT CANON ALREADY BUT WHOOPSIE DO THIS WAS A BOMBSHELL LIKE THAT PERSONALITY THOUGH?!
> 
> I need the next episode.... whenever it airs... why SU why you gotta update like this...
> 
>  
> 
> Also this is a pretty heavy chapter. Next one I'm going to try to make a bit more lighthearted.

            As whole month had gone by since Pearl heard the news about Rose Quartz on the beach. She had kept busy in that time. At every spare moment she was seen training with her new rapiers, and her fierce mode of attack in subsequent skirmishes with the Diamond loyalists had earned her Bismuth’s confidence. She was allowed to sit in on meetings with those currently heading the rebels, that being Bismuth herself, the Scaphite that had been leading the party who found her, and to her surprise a rather surly looking Emerald that never really seemed happy to be anywhere. That said, the Emerald also seemed to be one of their strongest fighters on the battlefield and was doing wonders at training new rebels who weren’t natural soldiers into fiercer beings than anyone could have imagined.

            They weren’t the only ones at these meetings of course, there were others like Pearl who had earned their trust and were essentially sitting in council. There had been a bit of an incident the first time she had sat in on a meeting when a Peridot that was running some technical equipment for a presentation had assumed she was there to be acting secretary and told her to stand in the corner and ‘make sure you take these notes EXACTLY as I say them!’ 

            A subsequent tongue lashing from Pearl and hurried explanation and reprimand from Bismuth followed, and the Peridot held her tongue from then on, thoroughly embarrassed when she found out she was “Rose’s Pearl.”

            Pearl… did not know how to feel about that label. Even as she grew more well-known for her skill with her spear and new rapiers, it seemed as though she couldn’t fully shake the label of being… property. There were exceptions, of course. Scaphite would call her Pearl and nothing else, even if Emerald still often acted like she wasn’t in the room…

            And Bismuth… was great. Honestly really great. She really seemed to believe in Pearl’s abilities but… even she would slip up, here and there. Pearl would be helping to carry supplies, and Bismuth would take them from her hands, telling her not to hurt herself. Maybe she had been struggling a little, but she didn’t like being treated like she was fragile, not anymore! She couldn’t really get mad at Bismuth though, she knew she was only trying to help… it just felt as though no matter how much progress she made, Pearl still had so long to go to be treated just like everybody else.

            Well, as ‘Rose’s Pearl’, maybe she never would be. That thought was… a bit disheartening, if Pearl told the truth.

            Aside from attending frequent meetings and training, Pearl’s natural swiftness and flexibility made her soon a part of the scouting parties that would scour the area around the hills in the twilight hours through to the dawn. They were looking for would-be rebels escaping to their encampment to guide. They searched for loyal gem soldiers and spies to quietly take out and bubble so they wouldn’t find their settlement. And for anything else of interest, be it possible resources for the soldiers or evidence of a new strategy to ensnare gems escaping from the city.

            Pearl had already taken out couple of patrolling Ruby guards and directed a shivering Rutile and a red Zikron holding hands and being followed by two lower caste Pearls with torn skirts and worn faces toward the hill where they would find the gate they needed.

            Normally Pearl would have accompanied them, but it wasn’t that far and she wasn’t ready to go back into the caves and hide herself from the sky and stars again just yet.

            Still more or less on alert for noise and movement, but feeling a touch of whimsy, Pearl found a tall tree and hoisted herself up into its branches, climbing high until her head broke up to the top of the treeline and she could see the wide expanse of space above her head.

            She had travelled to so many of those stars with White Diamond’s entourage. She had never spent as much time in any one place as she had wanted to, and never got to choose where to go. She wondered, if they beat the Diamonds, would she finally get to make that journey on her own? Travel the galaxy and explore, experience the real beauties of the universe with no one to tell her to drop everyone and leave at a moment’s notice? Real freedom. Up in that tree, miles from the city and a fair distance from the rebels too, now, it seemed close enough to touch. She wanted it so badly… and there was only one way to get it. They had to get rid of them all, everyone standing in her way, all those who would only look at her and see a meek servant, a stupid slave they… they couldn’t exist, if Pearl was to be free. If Pearl was to really be with Rose one day… and stars, she prayed every night that Rose was alive. She had no sign her prayers were answered, however.

            Until that moment, when Pearl was nearly startled out of her perch by a loud scream and shouts coming from not so very far away. Her mind flashing to the fleeing gems she hadn’t escorted and cursing herself for her negligence, she jumped from the tree and raced along the forest floor in the directly of the screams. As she got closer, she felt her heart stutter as she first _recognised the voice_ and then heard the words it was screaming.

            “NO! Leave him alone! He’s just a human, why are you doing this, he’s fragile!” the voice… it was Rose. It was Rose, she was alive, she was here! She’s brought a human!

            There was a few grunts and a strangled cry from a deeper voice Pearl didn’t know at all. Then a high pitched giggled followed. _An Aquamarine_. Pearl had had quite enough of those sadistic little squirts.

            “Oh dear! Am I hurting your little pet, Rose Quartz? Maybe if you had reported in for your recall like the rest of your traitorous cut of gem, he wouldn’t be bleeding out on the ground right now!”

            “I… I’ll come with you now, just please let him go! He doesn’t deserve this!”

            Pearl caught sight of a flash of blue and hide quick behind a large boulder, peeking around to see an Aquamarine pulsing with blue energy, a human that looked broken and bleeding upon the ground, and Rose, surrounded by a bright pink bubble and looking absolutely horrified.

            “Hmm… I suppose I might think about letting him go if you drop your shield bubble and put these on.” The Aquamarine pulled a pair of glowing stabilizer cuffs from a bag she was carrying and used her telekinesis to ferry them down in front of Rose. Pearl watched as Rose looked at the bleeding human that was groaning on the ground and closed her eyes. The bubble dropped. Aquamarine looked on with disdain as Rose picked up the cuffs and attached them to her wrists. Now she could not shapeshift or use her powers as long as Aquamarine’s sick magic powered the things.

            Pearl really, really hated Aquamarines.

            “Now, let Amois go!” Rose demanded. Aquamarine hummed loudly.

            “Hmm, I’m not sure I like your tone, Rose Quartz. And after all, I only said I would THINK about letting your human go. And I’m thinking… no.” With a horrible grin, Aquamarine raised her arms and the human rose, screaming, into the air, only to crash back down on the earth. Then rose and crashed again and again, pounded into the dirt by Aquamarine like a bird might crush a snail shell. It wasn’t long before the body fell limp, and Rose… Rose was yelling, tears streaming down her face. Pearl had felt frozen to this point, but no longer.

            Aquamarine didn’t see her coming, too distracted by causing pain. Pearl leapt into the air with her rapiers in hand, slashing both at the same time above and below the small gem embedded in the side of the Aquamarine’s side. The gem poofed. The human’s body fell for the last time with a wet, meaty sound.

            Rose’s cuffs lost their magic, and she snapped them instantly. She ran to the body, but dared not touch it. She just looked on, tears running down her face.

            “Rose…” Pearl said softly. “Rose.” She said more firmly, walking up to Rose and throwing herself into her lover’s arms. But Rose only held her loosely for a time before she finally returned the hug, whispering hoarsely into Pearl’s ear.

            “He wanted to come help. I told him it would be too dangerous, but he insisted. I thought it might be okay but… I couldn’t protect him.” Rose shook around Pearl and then seemed to finally really look at her for the first time. “What are you doing here? I… I am glad to see you safe but…”

            There was a noise behind them, and they turned and gaped to see Aquamarine’s gem reforming. Already? They really were too powerful… Pearl grabbed Rose who had instinctively reached for her human’s body.

            “He’s already dead, Rose! We have to go, we won’t have the element of surprise this time!”

            Rose nodded, numb, and the two linked hands and began to run. It took a few minutes for Pearl to realize they were going in the opposite direction of the rebel base, but she didn’t feel like it was the time to bring that up as they simply went faster and faster until Pearl felt relatively sure they had left the reforming gem far behind.

            They stopped running, and Rose fell to her knees, sobbing again. Pearl didn’t know quite what to do, only that she couldn’t stand to see Rose like this. She didn’t deserve this. Pearl hadn’t seen her in so long, had feared she was shattered, and now… now Pearl had her back, but she had been hurt. Hurt by one of those disgusting gems that bought into the Diamond regime.

            “I should have done more,” Rose whispered into the ground. “How could I have let this happen?”

            “It’s not you,” Pearl said gently, crouching next to Rose and running her hand through her long pink hair until Rose looked up at her with wide, helpless eyes that nearly broke Pearl’s heart. “It was her… them. The gems that would see us destroyed for not being… not being like them.”

            “Pearl…”

            “ _They made you cry,_ ” Pearl sang sweetly, softly, cupping Rose’s cheek. “ _But that will end tonight. You are the only thing that’s right about this broken world.”_

            Pearl laid a tiny kiss on Rose’s forehead before drawing her kneeling body in close enough that Rose could rest her head on her lap. “ _Go on and cry, but when the morning comes, we’ll burn it down and then, we’ll build the world again… our love is God._ ”

            “God?” Rose looked up again and saw Pearl’s eyes flooded with tears now too.

            “The other rebels talk about it sometimes, the ones they have had more contact with the human tribes. They say it means “all powerful”, or something like that.” Pearl shrugged and sniffled.

            “Are you okay?”

            “ _I was alone. I was a frozen lake, but then you melted me awake; see now I’m crying too.”_ Pearl let out a short, watery laugh. “ _You’re not alone.”_

            “ _You’re not alone…”_ Rose sang back, reaching up to cup Pearl’s cheek as she had hers. Then, as they continued to sing, the two got to their feet again and held onto each other, spinning in a waltz.

“ _And when the morning comes,”_

“ _When the morning comes…_ ”

“ _We’ll burn away that tear,”_ Pearl brushed a thumb under Rose’s eye, “ _and raise our city here…”_

“ _Raise our city here…”_

 _“Our love is God.”_ Pearl and Rose sang quietly, together, and shared a kiss.

And then they glowed.

Rainbow Quartz opened her four big eyes and could see far above the treetops. The stars high above seemed to make her blond and pink hair sparkle. Her strong limbs stretched up above her head in wonder at those stars. And she grinned, feeling so very, very full of love. Never before had she felt so graceful, so sure of her steps. Never before had she felt so strong. So full of untapped potential.

“ _We can start and finish wars! We’re what killed the dinosaurs! We’re the asteroid that’s overdue!”_ Rainbow Quartz laughed as she twirled a pirouette among the circle of trees that had fallen when she came to be in all her great glory. “ _The dinosaurs choked on the dust, they died because God said they must! The new world needed room for me and you…”_

Rainbow Quartz shimmered again and shrank, leaving Rose and Pearl holding each other again, now surrounded by a circle of felled trees. Though they hardly noticed. Pearl’s eyes shone as she sank to one knee, holding Rose’s hand in reverence.

            “ _I worship you,”_ she sang firmly, resolutely. “ _I’d trade my life for yours. They all will disappear, we’ll plant our garden here. Our love is God.”_

 _“Our love is God,”_ Rose pulled Pearl to her feet and enveloped her in a hug again.

“ _Our love is God.”_

_“Our love is God.”_

“I… I’ve got an idea,” Pearl said, suddenly. “Come with me.”

*

            “Um, Pearl, not that this tunnel isn’t lovely but… is this really the entrance to the rebel base? It seems… unguarded…” Rose pointed out after a few minutes of travelling through a tunnel that shone and sparkled around them, full of veins of rock crystals seeming to glow of their own violation.

“This is the secret entrance!” Pearl smiled. “Only the inner circle of rebels know about it, and well, you are THE Rose Quartz after all! So obviously YOU can know about it.”

“Why are we going in this way, though?”

“Well… I don’t really want to draw a lot of attention right away and…” Pearl stopped walking and clasped her hands together. “I… sort of want to spend a little more time alone with you… before you get busy with everyone else…”

Rose blushed, but was quick to envelope Pearl in a hug. “I will never be too busy for you, Pearl,” Rose whispered in her ear. Pearl shivered.

“Well… b-be that as it may…” Pearl cleared her throat and carefully pushed herself out of Rose’s arms, “There IS another reason we’re coming in this way.”

“Oh? And what’s that?” Rose asked in surprise.

“You’ll see!” Pearl winked, and then gestured for Rose to keep following her. While Rose assumed they would continue down the main tunnel, Pearl darted into an alcove that was strangely free of crystals and rather dark. Looking around suspiciously as though someone else was around to see what they were doing, Pearl pressed into a part of the tunnel wall. There was a shaking, and slowly the wall… opened. Pearl took Rose’s hand and pulled her inside, quick to close the door behind her before lighting a torch in the wall. The fire reflected off the walls, and lit up a space that was… relatively small, about the size of one of the human’s wooden houses. But the walls were full of shelves, and the shelves were full of weapons. Swords and spears, rapiers and knives, maces and whips and even small canons and weapons Rose couldn’t identify on sight but looked pretty dangerous. Also, all of them looked brand new.

“What… what is this place, Pearl?” Rose asked.

“This is Bismuth’s emergency weapon supply!” Pearl grinned. “She showed me this pretty recently. In case of an emergency and the main base is taken, we can get all the key players down in this tunnel and use this weapon supply to fight out way out! But it’s okay, we’re just going to borrow a couple of things… if I can just remember where Bismuth pointed them out…” Pearl began searching shelves, and Rose picked up a nearby sword, feeling the weight in her hand. It was extremely well made, Rose wouldn’t have thought a Bismuth capable of such delicate craftsmanship but then, she wouldn’t have thought a Pearl could fight until she met this Pearl either. Gems… really were capable of some incredible things. How did it take so long for them all to realise that?

            “What are we borrowing?” Rose asked, “And what for?”

            “There’s a weapon Bismuth was showing me. She said it was a last resort and experimental but… I think it’s just what we need now. As for what we’re going to use it for… well, you want to make sure that Aquamarine doesn’t hurt any more humans right?” Pearl didn’t know exactly what the appeal of humans was, but they were important to Rose and Pearl didn’t want to see her cry anymore. And well… Aquamarines seemed rather beyond redemption in Pearl’s opinion anyway.

            “O-oh… yes...” Rose let out a shaky sigh and hugged herself. “Amois… he was such a cute little human, he only wanted to help. But maybe it’s better if humans stay apart from gems altogether. We aren’t safe for them.”

            “Ah ha!” Pearl cheered in triumph as she pulled two long tubes from one shelf. “These are what we’re looking for!”

            Rose turned and stared at what Pearl was holding. “What are those?”

            “Bismuth calls them uh, Party Crackers?” Pearl shrugged, “Well, she said they’re more powerful than she intended, but they’re supposed to eliminate a gem on impact.”

            “Instant form disruption…” Rose blinked, “That’s good.”

            “I know right!” Pearl grinned. Well, form disruption was one word for it anyway. “Aquamarine is probably still out looking for you. How about we go out there and show her what we’re made of!”

            “Yeah!” Rose said nodding firmly. “For Amois… and for Rosey…” Rose’s expression was serious, but less sad than before.

Pearl felt proud. “ _And when the morning comes, we’ll change the world again…”_

 _“And we’ll avenge our friends!”_ Rose and Pearl embraced, and Pearl showed Rose what she would have to do to set off the Party Cracker.

*

            “So, what should I…?”

            “Just go out in the clearing and draw attention to yourself! We saw her a couple of times patrolling the area from a distance, and this way I can stay in the shadows. Just… tell her you want to strike a deal.”

            “Alright...” Rose could feel the weight of the Party Cracker hidden in the folds of her dress. Would this really be enough? She stepped out of the trees into the meadow area and looked up into the sky. Taking a big breath she yelled, “AQUAMARINE! IT’S ME, ROSE! I WANT TO STRIKE A DEAL WITH YOU!”

            Rose looked around, listening intently. She… didn’t hear anything. She took a deep breath and tried again.

            “AQUAMARINE! HELLO! I WANT TO- Oh my goodness!” Rose gasped as there was a loud rustling from the trees. A large shape loomed from them and gave a load battle cry.

            “Oh!” Pearl gasped, covering her mouth from her hiding place. It was a multi gem Ruby fusion, and it was coming right for Rose!

            “S-stop!” Rose yelped, and her bubble shield formed around her. The great Ruby smacked into her, sending the bubble backwards. It bounced along the ground with Rose fighting to stay level inside it. “Please, I want to, er, you weren’t supposed to-“

            “Well, well, well. If it isn’t a stray Rose Quartz!” The Ruby fusion growled. Fusions patrolling the forest now?! Maybe all the soldiers disappearing around the area hadn’t worked in the rebels’ favour after all…

            At any rate, Rose looked more than terrified in her bubble. What had Pearl done? Now they were both in danger, would the Party Crackers work on a fusion? Maybe if she and Rose got close enough to fuse…

            “Wait!” Rose yelled, “I- I’m going to surrender!”

            The Ruby fusion stopped in her tracks, looking at Rose curiously.

            Ruby huffed. “Then drop your shield, if you’re going to come quietly!”

“I will… but… I’m scared like this!” Rose gasped, “How about… we make a deal? On the count of three, I drop my bubble, and you unfuse?”

            The Ruby fusion took a few seconds to think about this, and finally nodded. “Fine. But you drop your shield and come with us immediately, understand?”

            “Yes, of course!” Rose said, nodding with her hands up in a placating gesture. “So, count of three. One…” The fusion glowed, as did Rose’s bubble. “Two…” Five Rubies stood in a cluster, Rose stood exposed.

            “Three!” Pearl yelled, jumping from the trees and firing the Party Cracker. Rose fumbled, but managed to grab hers and set it off as well. There was a very loud explosion, and lights seemed to dance around them. The Rubies screamed.

            The smoke cleared. One Ruby seemed to be left, and she was running for the treeline, still screaming.

            “Stay here, I’ll get her!” Pearl snapped, taking off in a dead run after the survivor.

            Meanwhile, Rose watched slowly toward the Ruby gems on the ground.

            What was left of them.

            They weren’t… shards per se. The cuts and scrapes were deep, and only one wasn’t entirely in two pieces, though it was nearly there. Rose shook as her hands hovered above them.

            “No they… they weren’t supposed to get hurt like this…” Rose whispered, “They were supposed to just… Pearl. PEARL! STOP!” Rose left the Rubies on the ground to follow Pearl, feeling as though she was flying along the ground.

            Pearl had the last Ruby cornered against a rock. She was grinning widely, Bismuth’s new weapons worked perfectly! Sure, Rubies weren’t much of a threat, but this was obviously powerful enough to turn the tide of the battle! She would have to report this immediately when they got back!

            “Nowhere to run now! If you stay still, I bet it won’t even hurt much!” Pearl laughed as she took aim. Maybe they missed out on that Aquamarine, but at least another of those out to hurt Rose and the rebels would be gone!

            “I don’t understand!” The Ruby cried out, covering her face, “Why are you doing this? Y-you’re a Pearl! Pearls are supposed to be sweet! I love Pearls! I wanted a Pearl!”

            Pearl shuddered. This Ruby knew _nothing._ This Ruby probably never even TALKED to a Pearl before! She readied her finger on the trigger. “ _We can start and finish wars! We’re what killed the dinosaurs! We’re the asteroid that’s overdue!”_

            “Stop this! You’re not supposed to be a fighter! You’re meant to be… cherished! Protected! What did the rebels DO to you?!” the Ruby wailed.

            “ _The dinosaurs will turn to dust,”_

            “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!”

            _“They’ll die because we say they must!”_

            “Pearl, wait!” Rose yelled as she finally caught up, but it was too late. Pearl fired. With only a single target, the Ruby left on the ground was so damaged that she might as well have been shattered. There was no way she’d be able to form again.

            Pearl felt her entire form thrumming with energy. She had dissipated gems before but this… this was different. She had completely proven she was better, she was the one who was in control now! With this weapon… Pearl could really change the world! And protect Rose.

            “What… what have you done?” Rose’s voice came from behind Pearl, shaking and obviously still scared from what had happened. Imagine, a soldier like Rose being scared of some Rubies! But Rose wasn’t like the other soldiers. She… she needed Pearl. And Pearl… Pearl would be there for her, always! She would be a soldier for Rose!

            Pearl turned and gave Rose a beatific smile, and Rose seemed frozen in her tracks. Pearl still held the Party Cracker in her left hand as she sank to one knee and bowed her head to the one she would protect.

 _“I worship you,_ ” Pearl sang, “ _I’d trade my life for yours. We’ll make them disappear. We’ll plant our garden here…”_ She reached out and took Rose’s limp fingers, holding them to her mouth and planting a sweet kiss on the knuckles, pressed them to the gem on her forehead and shivered. “ _Our love is God.”_ Rose was shaking. Still in shock. Well, she had gone through so much that night. Pearl would take better care of her. She got to her feet and embraced Rose’s larger form. “ _Our love is God.”_

 _“Our love is God…”_ Rose sang back, voice still shaking.

“ _Our love is God.”_

_“Our love is God…”_

If Pearl had looked up, perhaps she would have seen that Rose only had eyes for the Ruby on the ground, and those eyes were wide, glassy, terrified. She sang in numb horror. This wasn’t what she had wanted at all.

Pearl sang out in triumph, certain this was the answer they needed.

Together, they sang.

“ _OUR LOVE IS GOD!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so this is a quick little addition here. I am kind of thinking of dropping the song Dead Gay Son entirely from this story cause I legit cannot figure out a) what the fuck to do with it and b) how the fuck to write something that matches it's tone and beat structure like it is killing me idk.
> 
> That said, if I give it enough thought I still might be able to come up with something, but would anyone be bummed out if it wasn't included? I don't know how popular this song actually is I mean it's my least favourite song in the musical but if other people like it I might work a bit harder to find a place for it. Please let me know if you have an opinion.


	13. Free At Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose has finally made it to the rebel base, but she doesn't feel prepared to take on this role. On top of that, she and Pearl don't seem to see quite eye to eye anymore, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song in this chapter is Seventeen but obviously I renamed it because gem ages mean nothing and I decided that this was the best way to keep the tone of the song with this story.
> 
> I don't think this fic will go more than 3 or 4 more chapters after this. I plan to have a couple of chapters with more than one song in them after this, (the ones that go together basically, like Shine a Light and Lifeboat, and Yo Girl with Meant to Be Yours, etc). That might be extended but I'm not currently planning for that.
> 
> I have cut out Dead Gay Son entirely from this fanfic. I don't like the song and I dont know what to do with it so. It's gone now.
> 
> I think that this story started waaaay more Heathers-like than how it's going to end, but I think that's fine. At least this way it can be a surprise. Also, I have finally watched the original Heathers movie and realised how DRASTICALLY different it is from the musical in terms of characters, tone, message, etc etc so honestly? I feel 100% okay with all my changes and rewrites cause LEMME TELL YOU I still love Heathers the Musical but I really loved the movie too and for completely different reasons. It got me thinking that it really doesn't matter how much a new version of a piece of media changes the story and characters as long as they work hard to make it as good as they possibly can. Guess that's what I'm trying to do, here.

“Rose Quartz! Can I just say, I am _truly_ honoured to meet you!” Bismuth said with a giant grin as she practically wrung Rose’s hand in a handshake.

            “O-oh, well, it’s a pleasure to meet you as well of course.” Rose forced a smile onto her own face as she returned Bismuth’s tight grip and gestured to the rebel leaders and council around her, “I’m really impressed with everything you’ve set up here, and in such a short time!” There were a few cheers that erupted around her, Pearl clapping the loudest from beside her.

            “You definitely took you’re time in joining us, though! We were afraid you ran into trouble, but given that you brought in five Homeworld-loyal prisoners with you, I’m guessing whatever kept you so long was nothing you couldn’t handle!”

            “It was only five Rubies,” Pearl snorted, “Although we couldn’t have done it so easily without Bismuth’s weapons… ah, sorry for borrowing this by the way.” Pearl held out a Party Cracker for the room to see.

            Rose tried to hide her gritted teeth as she remembered gathering up the Rubies, bubbling them and feeling as though the act was pointless. When Pearl at last had them trek back through the tunnel into the room the rebel council was using as a meeting chamber, Pearl had quickly relieved Rose’s arms of them and set them on the long table in the centre of the room before introducing ‘The Most Brilliant of Quartzes, Rose!’ to the room.

            Rose was thoroughly embarrassed by the embellished introduction, but quietly accepted the pats on the back and handshakes she received from the gathered gems right up until Bismuth broke through to introduce herself.

            Speaking of Bismuth, she took the Party Cracker that Pearl handed to her with a snort. “Well, I suppose I should at least be happy they got a field test. Worked perfectly, I assume?”

            “You bet!” Pearl said happily. Rose continued to smile, though it felt very wrong on her face now.

“Well, anyway, we are just thrilled to have you here!” Bismuth enthused. “You’ll be more than happy to know that we have approximately one thousand gems of varying kinds already here with more coming every day! We’ve already set up quite a community, and everyone will be more than excited to hear that the Rose Quartz that started it all is finally going to take command!”

            “Take… command?” Rose stared at Bismuth.

            “Yes, of course!” Pearl nodded and grabbed Rose’s hand. “Rose is more than capable!” Rose’s eyes widened as more cheers erupted around her.

            “Glad to have you onboard!” The Scaphite declared.

            “Be nice to deal with someone who can already fight for a change…” The surly Emerald huffed.

            “But…” Rose stared wide eyed at all the votes of confidence around her. She held up her hands and was stunned when everyone quieted, watching her. She awkwardly cleared her throat. “I… I understand that you all think I’m here to lead you to victory but… I’m not prepared to lead any rebellion! When I… when I did what I did, I didn’t think it would cause such an uprising. I mean, I’m glad it did! This is… what you’ve done, it’s truly incredible. But I’m not a leader, not like you want me to be. I don’t… I’m not even sure…” Rose wrung her hands as the faces around her grew concerned.

            “How _did_ you do it, anyway?” A Peridot asked suddenly. She was followed by a host of others asking more or less the same thing. Rose felt herself grow pale as Pearl held her hand even tighter.

            “Alright, alright!” Bismuth quieted them, giving Rose a glance as she hushed her followers. “I’m sure Rose has travelled a long way to be here, and she isn’t prepared to take a bunch of questions right now. Let’s get her somewhere she can rest, I want someone to go prepare a quiet room for her- thank you, Rutile. Rose, you and your Pearl can come with me to my forge, I uh, well I have something to show you. You’ll like it!”

            Rose nodded gratefully. “Yes, was definitely a long trip. Just a couple of hours would be enough time to… to rest.”

            “Right,” Bismuth smirked and gestured to the crowd to part, and part they did. Rose was surprised that even the Scaphite and Emerald, both of whom seemed to be as important as Bismuth to the rebels, let Bismuth walk off alone with her with no other questions asked. They must trust her judgement absolutely, which was rather incredible. Bismuth gems were often considered slow witted and good only for heavy manual labour, but no one here seemed to see this Bismuth that way. It was heartening to see that but… also a little intimidating. Rose was expected to lead these gems? But how could she do so as naturally as this Bismuth seemed to?

            Bismuth lead Rose and Pearl, who walked by Rose’s side with her head held high, through the doors of the room and into the corridors. The walls of these tunnels, like the secret entrance, were lined with glowing crystals that lit the way. They passed a few gems here and there, all who gasped and whispered at the sight of her, and as they continued into, presumably, the common areas of the rebel base gasps and cheers erupted as Rose walked through larger chambers. Bismuth would remark here and there, telling Rose about the training areas she saw, and the rest areas, and mentioned the infirmary where the damaged gems were being cared for. Some gems tried to follow Rose, Pearl and Bismuth as they went on their way, but Bismuth only had to speak a few kind (if stern) words and they dispersed as well.

            Finally, they reached an enormous stone door in the wall that had a large keyhole. Bismuth’s hand shape shifted into a large key, and in a moment the door clicked open. Bismuth gestured with a smile for Pearl and Rose to enter. Pearl went in without a care as though she had been there many times, perhaps she had, and Rose followed behind her a bit more hesitantly, though she was filled with a sense of wonder as a blast of heat from the interior of the next chamber warmed her face and gem.

            This cavernous space was lit by several large furnaces, and many tools lines the walls. A large anvil sat in the center of the room, and plenty of crates filled with raw materials scattered around the floor. Bismuth looked around the space with her hands on her hips.

            “It’s not perfect, of course,” Bismuth mentioned casually, “Ideally, I’d want a forge on some sort of planetary fault so I could use some of the molten core of the planet for hotter forging, but I make due with these. Once we’ve liberated some more territory from the Diamonds, I’m sure I’ll be able to set up something better.”

            “Bismuth, you’re far too modest!” Pearl enthused, “You do amazing work here!”

            “I think it’s beautiful,” Rose said sincerely. It was definitely an impressive, if utilitarian, space. Bismuth blushed a little and scratched the back of her head.

            “Yeah, well, like I said. I make due.” She brightened suddenly. “Oh, right! Wait right there!” She hurried off to the corner of the room and quickly pulled out something long and pink from its interior. “Alright… get a load of this!” Bismuth gushed as she turned and Rose’s mouth dropped open, as did Pearl’s. Evidently, she hadn’t known that Bismuth had a secret project going “I’m working on a scabbard as well, and I’m not entirely finished working on the edging so you can’t use it quite yet but well, do you think this is something you’d want to use on the battlefield?”

            Rose nodded, speechless, as she gazed at the overly large pink sword in front of her. The handle featured a Rose emblem, and had both a pink carved grip and smooth guard. It was… gorgeous, even if Rose could see the blade needed some more sharpening done. Well, this sword probably wasn’t a number one priority for Bismuth, so it wasn’t really a wonder it wasn’t yet finished.

            “That’s amazing,” Pearl breathed, sounding as though she was in love. “It suits you perfectly, Rose.”

            “It… it certainly seems so,” Rose said quietly. “When it’s finished, I’m certain it will do its job well.”

            “Absolutely,” Bismuth grinned. “It’s perfectly weighted, here!” Bismuth tossed Rose the sword and Rose fumbled it for a second before holding it reverently and giving it a couple of practice swings as Bismuth kept talking. “It’s designed for a fair fight, since I think it’s important for the leader of the rebellion to face her foes on an even ground. I might make you something else later in case things get too hairy but… for now, I think this sword will be perfect. It’ll be as iconic as your shield!”

            Rose snorted at that. “My shield, _iconic_? I don’t think it’s ever been called that before.”

            “Well,” Bismuth laughed too, “I know it’s not very intimidating, but you were known as the ‘shield wench’ for a long time, some part of that is bound to stick to you.”

            “That’s true,” Rose admitted. Then she ran a nervous hand through her hair. “But speaking of… leading. I’m not sure that’s something I’m prepared to do.”

            “Don’t worry about it,” Bismuth assured, “You’ll have me, Scaphite and Emerald behind you. We can help advise you. But you’re important. Don’t forget, you’re the one who started all this! Once word gets out that we have THE Rose Quartz at our base? Even more gems than ever will come join us, nothing will stop us from winning this war!”

            Pearl bristled. “So… what? Do you expect her to just stand around and look pretty while you-“

            “Woah now, hold on Pearl,” Bismuth held up her hands in a placating gesture, “I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean that, well, Rose means something to gems. She’s at the core of this now, and just her being here will inspire more hope than anything else.” Bismuth turned back to Rose. “From what Pearl has told me, you’re also kind, and strong. Just be there for the gems who need you, and try to break up any infighting. But if you can’t, get Scaphite, she is great at getting gems to talk things out. If you have a good idea for a strategy, share it, but don’t worry too much if you don’t. Emerald is a master strategist. And when you see something that needs to be done, figure out how to do it, and make sure you get the best gems you can on the job. But if you have questions, just ask me. I’m pretty good at that sort of thing.”

            “Well… that sounds as though you have everything covered, why need me at all?” Rose asked.

            Bismuth shook her head, but still smiled. She hadn’t stopped smiling much since Rose had seen her. “Rose, what kind of question is that? You’re the one gem in history to shatter a Diamond! We’re going to need that kind of skill when we take on the rest!”

            Rose stared at Bismuth, and even in the heat of the forge she felt her veins grow cold. “The rest?”

            “That’s right!” Bismuth leaned against the wall and folded her arms, looking thoroughly proud. “Pink Diamond was a great start, but if we want to liberate Homeworld, we’re going to need to get rid of all the Diamonds, once and for all.”

            Rose looked down at Pearl, who finally looked as uncomfortable as Rose did. She looked up and the two made eye contact, exchanging worried looks.

            “Uh, what’s wrong? You both look kind of…” Bismuth stopped leaning and started to walk toward Rose and Pearl. Pearl looked from Rose to Bismuth a couple of times.

            “Rose… Rose do you think we should…”

            “We have to,” Rose said suddenly, resolutely. Bismuth was starting to look worried. Rose drew herself up and looked Bismuth in the eye. “Bismuth I’m sorry but… I did not shatter Pink Diamond.”

            “What?” Bismuth asked, her smile finally dropping entirely from her face.

            “It… it’s true.” Pearl said quickly. “We were there when the shattering happened but… we didn’t do it.”

            “Then… who did?” Bismuth asked.

            “Yellow Diamond,” Rose said, and Bismuth looked at her, horrified.

            “Tell me everything you saw,” Bismuth said, her voice starting to shake. Rose swallowed, and explained as concisely as she could about Pink Pearl’s threat to get her shattered, confronting her, hiding behind the mirror, pushing the mirror down in a fit of anger, the broken gems holding Pink Diamond down and finally Yellow Diamond coming in and shattering her in a single well-placed blow.

            Bismuth listened grimly, nodding here and there. After Rose finished, Bismuth lowered her head, apparently in thought, for a time. Apparently too long, as Pearl grew impatient.

            “Bismuth?” She asked pointedly, only to startle as Bismuth let out a loud laugh that grew in volume under she was nearly doubled over. Rose and Pearl watched her in confusion and wariness.

            “Um, are you alright? Why are you laughing?” Rose tried, and Bismuth finally managed to get hold of herself, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye.

“No, no, I believe you it’s just, heh, I guess I never thought the Diamonds would start taking each other out for us. I mean, I was sort of hoping you had some secret weapon we could use though I was willing to accept it had been an accident… a murder though? Now that’s something different. Seems like everything’s changing!”

            “Yes but,” Pearl seemed to be struggling for words and flailed her hands helplessly for a moment, “But what are we going to tell everyone else?! They see Rose as this… this incredible gem who defied the Diamond Authority!”

            “Well… she still did, technically…” Bismuth stroked her chin thoughtfully. “I mean, you did befriend an off colour against the wishes of the Diamonds, risking your life to defend her. And on top of that, you did attack a Diamond and released all those gem shards. And you successfully spied on the Diamonds while Yellow Diamond committed a heinous act. I mean, none of that is something a loyal Homeworld Gem would do, right?”

            “Yes…” Rose admitted slowly, “But even so, that doesn’t make me an icon worthy of leading a rebellion.”

            “Maybe not but…” Bismuth sighed, looking a touch awkward now. “Would you… be open to the idea of lying about it? Not entirely just… maybe saying that somehow by overturning the mirror, the gem shards managed to destroy her? You would still be the one who committed the rebellious act, but the shards couldn’t deny they didn’t do it, could they?”

            “How are the Diamonds claiming I did it?” Rose asked.

            “They say they don’t know.” Bismuth said, “I suppose they will just assume you used a sword since that’s the kind of weapon issued to most soldier gems without a summoned offensive weapon, right?”

            “I suppose so,” Rose glanced again at the pink sword in her hands. She looked at Pearl. Pearl who had been so gleeful at having destroyed those Rubies. Pearl who swore herself to her, who danced with her, fused with her, fought with her, slept with her. “Pearl, what do you think I should do?”

            Pearl looked up at Rose with wide eyes for moment, as though momentarily surprised she was asked for her opinion before blushing and closing her eyes, her brow wrinkling around her gem as she considered the question. “I think… I think that you need to stretch the truth, like Bismuth said. For the sake of the rebellion. But not with everyone. I think we need to be honest with at least Emerald and Scaphite.”

            “And the council, if they ask,” Bismuth added quickly. “They’re our friends and we have to trust them with this sort of information.”

            “Right, and the council,” Pearl said quickly, though Rose caught a glint in her eye that she assumed meant that she wasn’t entirely happy with that allowance.

            “Alright,” Rose said with finality. “That sounds reasonable.” With one more look down at the sword, she handed it carefully back to Bismuth. “I’m still not entirely sure how to lead this rebellion but I’m willing to try, if you really think it will help you.”

            “Great!” Bismuth glowed, “I know you’ll do just fine! And we’ll be with you every step of the way! Now then, I’ll show you to a quiet room so you can get a proper reacquaintance with Pearl.” Bismuth winked and both Rose and Pearl blushed and exchanged embarrassed smiles. “Hey now, don’t look like that! We’re rebels, that means we get to have the fun the Diamonds denied us! We’ll give you both a couple of hours, and in that time I’ll call a base-wide audience together so we can introduce you to everybody else! And you can meet Crazy Lace and Snowflake! They weren’t at the meeting, but they’re pretty much the top of the council, you’ll love them!”

            “I’m sure I will,” Rose replied graciously as Bismuth led the way out of the forge.

            “And then, tomorrow, we can start in on plans for you to lead us to victory, getting rid of the rest of the Diamonds and their followers once and for all! I’m thinking I can make another Party Cracker, but MUCH bigger!”

            To this declaration, Rose fell silent, though Pearl applauded and smiled.

*

            The quiet room wasn’t much, just a simple room with a double bed, a communication device on a side table, a clock on the wall and a textured matt on the floor. But it was quiet as it promised, and the crystals in the walls glowed a reddish hue, and Rose felt some relief when it was just her and Pearl again.

            When Rose fell back on the bed and Pearl quickly climbed on top of her, Rose accepted her kisses readily enough, holding her slight form in her large arms and letting Pearl cup her breasts and move from her lips to her neck without complaint.

            But as Pearl pulled Rose’s white dress down to expose one of her breasts and lowered her head to kiss that as well, her gem gleamed in the red light and Rose’s mind flashed to the Rubies, or what had remained of them. She shuddered, and moved a hand to Pearl’s shoulder to push her backward.

            “Pearl, wait.”

            “Rose? What’s wrong?” Pearl sat back on her haunches as Rose sat up across from her.

            “What happened last night…”

            “Are you still worried over that?” Pearl flashed a concerned expression that quickly morphed into pity as she stroked Rose’s cheek. “Did those Rubies really scare you that much? They really weren’t anything to worry about, and if any gems try to take you again I’ll get rid of them! Or is this about the Aquamarine?” Pearl glared, though Rose knew it wasn’t at her. “If you’re really worried about her, then leave her to me. I only returned one Party Cracker, I can go out tonight with the other and hunt her down and-“

            “NO, PEARL!” Rose shouted, and Pearl stopped dead, staring at Rose with a blank expression.

            “Did you just… shout at me?” Pearl asked numbly, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as though she couldn’t believe Rose would do something like that.

            “I… I’m sorry,” Rose bit her lip, “I just… that’s just it, Pearl. I’m not upset or scared of the other gems I… I’m scared of you!”

            “Scared… of me?”

            “Or… or for you. What you’re becoming. Destroying gems, shattering them, it’s not… it’s not right, Pearl.” Rose had to make Pearl see sense.

But Pearl scowled. “They would do it to us, given the chance. Why should we let them off the hook for their crimes?”

            “Pearl, please,” Rose begged, “Do you really want to be like the Diamonds?” Pearl flinched a little, and Rose knew she hit a nerve.

            “We are NOT like the Diamonds!” Pearl snapped, “They shatter gems just for being different! We… we’re going to shatter them because they shattered so many already! Not to mention have caused endless suffering for almost every gem! This is the only way to truly stop them!”

“We don’t have to do things their way. We can poof them, bubble them, maybe one day we can make them see sense, but to destroy a gem that way without a thought? No one… no one deserves what we did to those Rubies. No one deserves… what happened to Amois, or to… or to Rosey, no one deserves to have things end like that. No one.” Rose felt tears prick her eyes as she remembered those scarred remains, that broken body, those pink shards lying on the beach. Were they so different from each other? They all meant the end of life, the end of possibility and change… it was so final, how could it ever be okay to be the cause of that?

“Really? No one?” Pearl let out a laugh that sounded a little crazed. “Not even shatterers and… and hooligan soldiers who would assault me as soon as look at me? Who would laugh as a gem or… or a human was tortured? Not even those who would destroy the life on a planet just for their own gain?”

Rose looked at Pearl sadly. “Even if… even if some gems do deserve it… who are we to choose who does? Isn’t that what the Diamonds do? Decide who deserves to live and die? Isn’t that what we’re fighting against?”

            Pearl opened and closed her mouth silently few times, still looking angry as she looked first at Rose, then at anywhere but Rose. Finally she got up and started pacing the room in irritation.

            “Why can’t we decide who lives and dies? The Diamonds have never suffered like we have, we’ve been damaged so much by them, shouldn’t that be enough for us to know a good gem from a bad one? What’s the point in arguing this? Plenty of other rebel gems want to shatter them, and you’re supposed to lead them.”

            “Surely not all of them think that way. And… well do I have to lead them? Maybe I can just leave,” Rose said with more conviction than she felt. “If I left now, I could go back to the human tribe, protect them from the coming war… wouldn’t that be better?”

            “So you’d leave me here, again?” Pearl asked, her voice grown very cold. Rose shivered.

            “You… you could come with me. Didn’t you want to be free? This rebellion… playing this part in the rebellion… are you really free like this? I heard them call you my Pearl, a lot of them still consider you property.” Pearl stared at Rose, then looked away.

            “I want to be free but… I feel like I, like we, still have a duty to finish what we started. We were hurt by the Diamonds, and we need to make sure no one is damaged by them ever again!”

            Rose grit her teeth and stood as well, towering over Pearl though Pearl looked up at her resolutely. “ _Fine!_ ” Rose said sharply. “ _We’re damaged, really damaged, but that does not make us wise!”_

            Pearl scoffed and turned away. Rose kept on.

            “ _Yes, we’re different. Maybe special, but we don’t choose who lives or dies_!” Rose reached for Pearl, but Pearl side stepped her. Rose instead clasped her hands in a pleading gesture. “ _Let’s be gentle! See the sunset! Explore this world, watch humans play. We’ll sing songs and then go dancing, come on what do you say?_ ” Rose’s voice bled into song, and Pearl’s shoulders hunched against her words.

“ _Can’t we be free at last?”_ Rose sang, “ _That’s all I want to do. If you could leave with me, I could be good with you.”_ Rose saw Pearl start to shake and tried to touch her shoulder again. Pearl didn’t move this time, and her upper arm vanished in Rose’s warm hand. “ _Gems can hurt us-“_

 _“Or ignore us.”_ Rose paused as Pearl’s voice joined hers, albeit quietly, but pressed on.

            “ _And, you’re right, that really blows. But of we let go-“_

 _“Take a deep breath.”_   
  
            “ _Go away and then reform. We’ll go camping-“_

 _“Hold each other.”_ Pearl breathed and Rose pulled her back against her in a hug, leaning down to hover her chin just above Pearl’s hair.

 _“And we’ll also see sunrise. Stay out all night.”_ Rose took one of Pearl’s hands and spun her out from her. Their gazes locked, and as Pearl let herself be pulled in close again she even chanced a tiny smile.

“ _I like dancing…”_

“ _Don’t stop looking in my eyes!”_

“ _Your eyes…”_ They both swayed together a moment before stepping into a full waltz around the small room.

“ _Can’t we be free at last?”_ Rose sang out loudly, _“Is that so hard to do?”_

Pearl joined in as they turned about the room, their voices echoing around them. “ _If you could let me in, I could be good with you! Let us be free at last, if we still have the right.”_

 _“So what’s it gonna be?”_ Rose drew Pearl in so close now, their noses brushing lightly. Pearl’s blue blush was very prominent. “ _I wanna be with you.”_

“ _I wanna be with you!”_ Pearl cried, and threw her arms around Rose’s shoulders.

 _“Tonight!”_ Both sang loudly as Rose lifted Pearl and spun again as the note drew out. They laughed, tears filled both their eyes as Rose sank onto the bed, Pearl straddling her. Rose took a deep breath and held Pearl’s face in her hands, looking at her very seriously.

“ _Yes, we’re damaged_.” Rose admitted.

 _“Badly damaged.”_ Pearl agreed.

 _“But your love’s too good to lose.”_ They sang together.

Pearl hugged Rose again, resting her head on Rose’s shoulder. “ _Hold me tighter.”_

Rose smiled. _“Even closer.”_

Pearl and Rose held each other a while, then Pearl spoke very quietly into Rose’s ear. “Do I… do we have to leave now? Can’t we stay a little longer?”

Rose let out a sigh. Then she sang, as softly as Pearl spoke, “ _I’ll stay if I’m what you choose.”_

 _“After, we can be free at last,”_ Pearl harmonized perfectly.

Rose hummed. “ _If I am what you choose…”_

_“If we still have the right…”_

_“Cause you’re the one I choose…”_ Rose ran her hands through Pearl’s soft hair. Pearl let out a blissful noise and snuggled closer.

“ _You’re the one I choose…”_

Quietly, whispering in each other’s ears, both sang, “ _You’re the one I choose…”_

And they sat in silence for a long while until a large, very blue Amethyst fetched them for Rose’s audience with the rebels, and Rose’s role in what was to come was cemented forever.

As she stood before a cheering crowd and found the words to tell them that they would win this war with the Diamonds, Rose believed that Pearl, in time, would come to fully realise that Rose was right and would come around eventually. Perhaps she could even convince the rest of the rebels to follow her path as well.

Unfortunately, as Pearl stood proudly beside Rose in the midst of the parted crowd, Pearl believed something very similar about Rose.


	14. Shine a Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in the Gem City, both Blue Diamond and Pink Pearl are falling apart in different, equally horrible ways since Pink Diamond's death. Yellow Diamond is trying to keep everything together, but this may be further out of her control than she realizes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for depictions of self-harm in this chapter.
> 
> Next chapter will be another no-song one I think. But we are closing in on the finish line here none the less. 
> 
> 3 songs in this chapter, Shine a Light, Lifeboat, and Shine a Light Reprise, since they all go together.

Yellow Diamond was actually starting to regret killing Pink. Not because she missed her, god no, she had been completely insufferable and insipid. Not because she was having second thoughts about the uselessness of the Earth, because if anything this experience had made her even MORE certain this planet was one huge mistake. It wasn’t even because of how awful it was having to take charge of this miserable rock and its utterly worthless gems (bar a very few exceptions that Yellow would be taking to a more worthwhile colony when she was done here). Truly it seemed Pink Diamond’s gems bucked more and more the harder Yellow tried to discipline them, and more gems were fleeing the city by the day. White Diamond had left the planet a week and a half ago to take care of some issues on Homeworld, and until she was able to come back Yellow wouldn’t be able to petition any more to just blow the planet up and be done with it.

            But even that wasn’t terrible. In fact, Yellow had expected that part to be annoying, and if nothing else she had plenty of executions to occupy her time. It was a shame she hadn’t been allowed to destroy the Rose Quartzes entirely… Blue Diamond had managed to plead for their safe bubbling at Pink Diamond’s silly zoo, which Blue had taken charge of with a gaggle of disgusting and mostly off colour Amethysts from Pink’s last batch.

            Which brings Yellow Diamond to the reason she was starting to regret killing Pink. Blue seemed to have lost her mind entirely. Before, Blue was an exemplary leader. Yellow could admit that she was prone to being hotheaded, and while she knew she was an excellent military commander she knew that she wasn’t… the best at handling gems outside of the soldier class. But Blue could get any gem to empathize with her, and that was an incredible skill. She remained level headed, and always did what had to be done, as fairly as possible.

            But after learning of Pink’s death, Blue had become erratic. She flew between fits of crying and wailing, and moments of trying desperately to gain the favour of Pink’s still-loyal former subjects. She was spending far too much time in the wilderness, and Yellow realised she had been collecting humans for the zoo, a completely pointless endeavour which exemplified her madness perfectly. And occasionally, she would have moments of inspiration in which she decided Pink’s death would MEAN something and would preach some sort of new ideal to the public. It was sickening and horrifying to see such a noble gem fall this way. Yellow hoped Blue would get over this but… if not, Yellow would have to get her under control before White came back. If White saw Blue like this… Yellow might soon find herself an only child. And as much as Yellow disliked Pink Diamond, she didn’t want Blue to meet a similar fate. In truth… Yellow loved Blue Diamond, very much. They had been together, quietly of course, secretly, it would be unseemly to broadcast such a relationship. But she felt for her enough that, if it would have fixed the mess Blue Diamond had become, Yellow would bring Pink Diamond back to life herself.

            Yellow was looking down from the palace balcony with disdain as Blue Diamond stood in the city centre below, gathering a crowd of gems around her. Yellow lowered her head solemnly as Blue began singing to them.

            On the balcony railing, Yellow Pearl and Pink Pearl stared down as well. Yellow’s eyes matched the disdain her Diamond showed but Pink… Pink Pearl was shivering. She had been doing that more and more the past several weeks. It seemed as though she was always afraid now. Yellow was holding her in good graces for now, but she had seen the gems who she shattered at a moment’s notice for disobedience. And even if she wasn’t shattered, Yellow clearly only needed a single Pearl. When this was over and Yellow destroyed the Earth like she wanted, where would that leave Pink Pearl? She would be reassigned… but it wouldn’t be to a Diamond. Who knows where she would end up?

            Pink Pearl remember her small knife she had been summoning the past several weeks, experimenting with the brief flashes of pain as it ran over her manifested form before light shone out and sealed over the wound again and again. She never knew a gem to use a weapon that way, but as a Pearl… just an ownerless Pearl… it was all she COULD use it for. So she would use it.

            “Ahem!” Yellow Pearl hissed and Pink Pearl startled, looking at her incredulously.

            “What?”

            “Stand up straighter, and stop shaking so much! Honestly, just because your Diamond was shattered is no reason to fall apart and ruin MY Diamond’s image!” Yellow Pearl snapped, and Pink Pearl cowered, though did manage to straighten herself some more. Her shaking did not stop, however, and Yellow Pearl made an irritated sound.

            As Pink Pearl fretted and Yellow Diamond’s concern grew, Blue Diamond appeared to be conducting a full fledged song-filled sermon of Pink Diamond’s ‘virtues’, alongside cautions against rebelling. It really wasn’t doing much good, but Yellow honestly didn’t want to bother trying to stop her anymore.

            Blue Diamond spun in a circle, pointing at different gems in her crowd. On her shoulder, her Pearl was singing back-up. “ _Deep inside of everyone there’s a hot ball of shame! Guilt, regret, anxiety, fears we dare not name. But if we show the ugly parts that we hide away! They turn out to be beautiful by the light of day! Why not”_

 _“Shine, shine, shine a light!”_ Blue Pearl sang.

            “ _On your deepest fears!”_

“ _Let in sunlight now!”_

_“And your pain will disappear!”_

_“Shine, shine, shine!”_

_“And your scars and your flaws.”_

_“Will look lovely because you shine!”_ Blue Diamond and her Pearl sung together. Yellow Diamond scoffed. Was that the kick she was on now? That if the gems would just share their guilty, ugly, impure thoughts they would feel better and stop rebelling? Pitiful… there wasn’t a chance that would work. Not that anything Yellow had tried had worked so far either… but even so! White Diamond wouldn’t approve of this… Blue really needed to be reigned in.

Pink Pearl trembled harder as Yellow Diamond’s giant hand clenched the balcony near her. Her eyes remained fixed to Blue Diamond on the ground below, her head not so far beneath them. She almost seemed happy in this moment, though that would change soon, Pink Pearl was sure.

_“You shine a light!”_

_“Shine, shine, shine a light! Shine, shine, shine a light!_ ” Blue Pearl trilled.

Likely trying to drum up favour with Blue, one of her own entourage, an Aquamarine, joined in the song. Her water wings stretched and took her up high near Blue’s face as she cleared her throat.

“ _Everyday’s a battlefield when pride’s on the line! I attack your weakness-“_

“ _And I pray you don’t see mine!”_ A Holly Blue Agate wailed from the ground. Blue Diamond smiled her approval, though the Aquamarine looked a little furious to have been cut off.

While the Pink-aligned gems seemed mostly unimpressed, a few were tapping their feet. A lean muscled Tiger’s Eye Quartz even joined in, her voice a little strange around her fangs. “ _But if I share my ugly parts”_

“ _And if you show me yours!_ ” A Padparadcha Sapphire sang.

Blue Diamond’s voice joined now a small group of singing gems, and Yellow was suitably surprised. This was probably Blue Diamond’s empathy powers at work but it was still impressive. Not to mention a bit of a relief, Blue’s powers had been only working sporadically for weeks, her stress and mental illness had shaken them badly. _“Our love can knock our walls down, and unlock all our doors._ ”

 _“Go on and shine, shine, shine a light, on your deepest fear! Let in sunlight now, and your pain will disappear!”_ Blue smiled and danced amid the other gems, and looked utterly ridiculous doing so. Still, it was rare to see her smile now, so Yellow let it go. It’s not like most of those gems would be living another year anyway. It wasn’t like Blue Diamond was shouting anything horribly incriminating toward herself.

“ _Who wants to share what’s in their heart? No volunteers? Fine, I’ll start!”_ Blue Diamond sang quickly, and Yellow Diamond’s eyes widened. Oh no. “ _My name is Blue, I’m on my own. Without Pink Diamond, I feel alone. With her, I knew my love was free, but that did not work out for me.”_

Wait… was Blue having an affair with Pink Diamond too?! Yellow Diamond felt her eye twitching but couldn’t stop it if she tried. Blue was alone? Well, what was Yellow to her, then?

“ _This revolution came and went, Rose Quartz tried to change the universe and barely a dent. Still, I struggle with despair, I’ve made a cult, and changed my hair! I chant, I pray, but no one’s there! SO YELLOW, I’M ENDING OUR AFFAIR!”_

Blue pointed up at the balcony, looking triumphant. Yellow’s jaw dropped. Her Pearl fainted dead away. Pink Pearl’s arms hung limp at her sides.

“ **WHAT?!** ” Yellow Diamond bellowed, horrified for many reasons.

“ _And I faked it, every, single, time!”_ Blue Diamond laughed, and even the crowd of gems around her giggled. Yellow Diamond stood frozen in shock as Blue Diamond kept going. “ _Woo! It feels fantastic! One, two, take me home, gems!”_

“ _Shine, shine, shine a light!”_ The gems around her sang, all of them, though Yellow Diamond was still trying to process what just happened.

“ _On your deepest fears!”_ Blue Diamond belted.

_“Let in sunlight now!”_

“ _And your pain will disappear!”_

_“Shine, shine, shine!”_

_“And your scars and your flaws!”_

“ _Will look lovely because you shine!”_ The company of gems raised their hands in the air and waved them back and forth to the beat.

“ _You shine, you shine a light!!”_ Blue Diamond led.

“ _Shine, shine, shine a light! Shine, shine, shine a light! Shine, shine, shine a light! Shine, shine, shine a light! Shine, shine, shine a light! Shine, shine, shine a light! Shine, shine, shine a light! Shine a light! YEAH!”_  
  
            Blue Diamond held her hands up and the mass quieted. It seemed that, even damaged as she was, she was still capable of controlling a crowd if she tried. It was what she was made for after all.

“Alright! I’m going to open the floor now!” Blue Diamond announced, “To all gems gathered here. Don’t be afraid, if you have fears and doubts, share them! We can work through them together, soothe your fears, cure your doubts! Pink Diamond’s death must have made you feel so scared, lost without your leader.” She pointed to a towering, regal looking Morganite that was standing idly by with her Pearl crouched by her feet. “You! How did Pink Diamond’s death make you feel?”

“Uh…” The Morganite looked around her as though hoping Blue Diamond was pointing to someone else, though came quickly to the realization she was expected to say something. “I guess I felt… bad?”

“Good!” Blue Diamond gushed, and everyone could see tears pricking at her eyes, her voice taking on a more desperate edge suddenly. “But what else?”

“Um… s-sad?” Morganite tried.

“Yes, yes,” Blue Diamond nodded frantically, “After all, you were one of her elites. Who can know what this must feel like for you. I know that it was… shocking for all of us. You, you there! You were on her guard, correct?” Blue Diamond asked an Amethyst that looked like she was trying to fade back into the crowd.

“Er, y-yes, I was My Diamond!” The Amethyst quickly saluted.

“Then you must know how I feel!” Blue Diamond said firmly, “This pain… you were so close to your Diamond every day. You must be devastated to lose her.”

“Er, yeah she…” the Amethyst swallow and looked down at her hands. “I… I couldn’t believe it when I heard. She was so strong, the best possible commander and some… some STUPID Rose Quartz…” the Amethyst choked off as giant, unnatural tears suddenly surged down her cheeks. Hers and everyone else’s, even Yellow Diamond had to quickly wipe at the corner of one eye. Blue’s pain was so strong, so visceral…

“And you!” Blue Diamond’s voice was watery, her smile was gone as she pointed to a pink Sapphire. “How DEVASTATING it must have been to have such a thing happen, completely UNFORSEEN?!”

“It… it was very strange, my Diamond!” The Sapphire said quickly, “I never saw it, if I had, of course I would have spoken up, I… I never wanted something like this to happen!”

“But it did happen,” Blue Diamond’s voice thundered to a rainstorm of tears. “It happened, and now Pink Diamond is… gone. She… all that’s left of her is this place, her zoo, her… her… her Pearl…”

“Can I say something?!” Pink Pearl’s voice rang like bell in the ensuing silence, and suddenly every eye was on her. She couldn’t turn to look at Yellow Diamond or her Pearl, but Blue Diamond seemed fascinated by her voice, and Blue Pearl… well, with her face mostly obscured she had no idea what she was thinking.

“Yes… of course you… you were Pink Diamond’s Pearl. You witnessed her shattering. Tell me… how do you feel?” Blue Diamond asked.

“What are you _doing?_ ” Yellow Pearl hissed out of the side of her mouth.

Pink Pearl felt on the edge of hyperventilating. She had no idea what had possessed her to speak. But she had spoken and now… now she was about to sing possibly her final song.

In her mind, awkward stringed instruments plucked out a tune full of swaying and unease. She stared out to the middle distance, and hugged herself as she sang.

“ _I… float in a boat. In a raging black ocean. Low in the water, with nowhere to go.”_ She drew a hitching breath. “ _The tiniest lifeboat… with gems that I know…”_

“That’s enough!” Yellow Diamond snapped, not wanting yet another song with too much emotional baggage, especially from this Pearl. “What is the point of this?”

“No!” Blue Diamond insisted, glaring up at Yellow. “I want to hear what she has to say!”

            Pink Pearl tried to shut out the voices. She just kept singing, her thin voice floating on the air to the gems surrounding her. “ _Cold, clammy, and crowded. The gems here smell desperate. We’ll sink any minute, so someone must go.”_ Pink Pearl’s squeezed herself tighter. “ _The tiniest lifeboat… with gems that I know…”_

            “That’s true,” Blue Diamond nodded sympathetically, “Without Pink Diamond, all the gems left behind must feel-“

            “ _Everyone’s pushing! Everyone’s fighting!”_ Pink Pearl cried out, and Blue Diamond fell quiet, with a surprised expression. “ _Storms are approaching, there’s nowhere to hide! If I say the wrong thing, or I wear the wrong outfit, they’ll throw me right over the side!”_

The world seemed deadly quiet as Pink Pearl caught her breath after the outburst and felt tears, her own tears, on her cheeks as she kept going, kept singing, because this was all she could do. This was all she was for.

“ _I’m hugging my knees, and the captain is pointing. But she’s not my captain!”_ Pink Pearl grabbed the hair on the sides of her head. “ _Still… the useless must go…”_ Pink Pearl let out a soft sob and sank to her knees on the balcony far above the crowd. “ _The tiniest lifeboat… full of gems that I know… the tiniest lifeboat… full of gems that I… know…”_

There was silence for another moment or two before the gems realised Pink Pearl was finished, then whispering rose from the crowd like ocean mist. Blue Diamond cleared her throat.

“Well… that’s… an interesting point of view…” she stared at the ground for a long minute, then muttered, “None of you really understand. None of you.” Clenching her fists, Blue Diamond mutely walked way from the square, appearing to be heading out of the city again. Yellow Diamond took a deep breath through her nose.

“ALRIGHT! SING-A-LONG TIME IS OVER! DISPERSE!” Yellow ordered, and the gems below yelped and scrambled to get out of the square and back to their duties. “And you!” Yellow Diamond grabbed Pink Pearl’s arm in her fingers and yanked her to her feet. “What were you playing at? Didn’t you want to live? Then quit _whining_ and find a way to be useful!”

“I…I…” Pink Pearl whimpered and twisted in Yellow Diamond’s grasp.

“M-my Diamond, I’m sure she didn’t… she’s just upset, as I would be if anything happened to you, m-my Diamond!” Yellow Pearl stammered out. Yellow Diamond grunted and released Pink Pearl’s arm.

“Just… get out of my sight. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of my sight until you’re ready to act like a proper Pearl.”

“Yes… my Diamond…” Pink Pearl muttered softly, hurrying to the edge of the balcony and sliding down one of the pillars to the floor, disappearing through a crack in the wall. Yellow Diamond did not watch her go. Instead, she turned to leave the balcony. She had to track Blue down. She needed to talk some sense into her before she did something truly drastic.

*

            Pink Pearl couldn’t bear to stay in the palace. She stole a bit of cloth to pull around herself like a cloak and headed out into the city, looking for some quiet corner where she could be alone. She tried to move as quickly as possible, and in down so found herself very nearly running into several gems, and completely tripped over one about half her size, sending both tumbling to the ground.

            “Ouch!” the other gem, a Ruby, grunted from underneath Pink Pearl.

            “Oh, damn…” Pink Pearl struggled to her feet, rubbing wet trails off her cheeks.

            “Um, oh! Y-you’re a Pearl!” The Ruby gasped, “I’m so sorry! A-are you hurt? You didn’t get scratched did you?”

            “What? N-no, I’m… I’m fine…” Pink Pearl turned her face away. “I have to go.”

            “Hey, wait, are you okay?!” The Ruby called after her, but Pink Pearl was already running off again. She didn’t stop until she was deep in an alleyway, tucked behind some pieces of excess stone that some Bismuth or other didn’t bother to cart off after the towers were built. She leaned against the wall and covered her mouth to stifle the sobs as she sank down to the cobblestones. What was she going to do now? She had no purpose, she was useless. A useless gem is a dead gem. What good would it be to be reassigned if she just shook and sobbed all the time? She would just bring shame… she would bring shame to everyone… she brought shame to herself. Why had she spoken out? She was so… so stupid!

            Pink Pearl clutched the sides of her head and stared at her useless, shaking knees. What good was this? What good was any of this?

            There was a sickly neon glow coming from her. She lowered her legs to stare at her round pink gem as it spit a tiny, pink knife ceremoniously into her lap. Apparently, her gem knew what it was she needed. Pink Pearl idly lifted the knife by the handle and slid the blade easily along her finger, not even flinching from the bloom of pain as her form shimmered, glowed, and healed over again. She repeated the action on her other fingers, one by one. Then her palms. Her upper arms. Her thighs.

            Cut. Glow. Heal. Repeat. After a while, Pink Pearl’s thoughts numbed out to this new mantra. She didn’t feel better. It only distracted her from the pain of the everything else bearing down on her.

            But it was frustrating too. Because on some level, Pink Pearl felt she needed to be punished. Punished for failing her Diamond and her station and herself. She could do nothing to her form with this knife that would last, that would remind her of how she failed.

            Pink Pearl stared dully down at the knife in her hand, then at her belly. Without further thought, she drove the knife toward her gem.

            The knife touched the gem and vanished, instantly. Of course it did, it came from her gem, didn’t it? It couldn’t hurt her like that… Pink Pearl let out a frustrated cry.

            “Stupid knife, not made for this!” Pink Pearl growled and flung her head back, hitting it hard on the wall and not even caring as stars exploded in front of her eyes.

            ‘ _Awe look, Pink Pearl’s going to whine, whine, whine all night!’_

            Pink Pearl froze and looked up, eyes huge. “M-my Diamond?” She whispered, horrified. “P-Pink Diamond?” She looked around, but saw nothing.

            _‘You don’t deserve to live!’_

Pink Diamond was shattered. She wasn’t there. But Pink Pearl could hear her voice ringing in her ears. Oh no… she was going crazy. She was going crazy and she is as good as dead…

            _‘Why not kill yourself?’_

            “N-no…” Pink Pearl sobbed out, miserably.

            ‘ _Your Diamond’s gone, you’ve no use! Whine, whine, whine! There is no hope for you!’_

Pink Pearl let out another cry and flung her head back into the wall again. Why her voice, of all things? But was it so strange… hers was the first voice Pink Pearl had heard after all. Her Diamond. The one she was made for… snuffed out, and she would follow, and… and…

            _‘You’re pathetic because you whine!’_

Pink Pearl screamed and scrambled to her feet. As if she could escape the voice, she ran from the alley, almost hitting yet another short gem who reached for her as she passed. She ran around the building and found a set of stairs crawling up the outside as a fire escape. Swallowing, Pink Pearl started climbing, quickly. She felt so much pressure closing in on her, she had to make this stop, she was useless… useless…

_‘You whine all night!’_

Faintly, Pink Pearl thought she could hear a voice from behind her, but she didn’t want to hear what it said. She reached the roof and stumbled to the edge, looking down at the ground. There were gems down there… but none were looking up at her teetering figure in the sky. At this height, her gem would shatter and… and… it was what she deserved… god this was…

 _‘Your ass is off the team. Go on and bitch and moan! You don’t deserve to dream! You’re gonna die alone!’_ The voice was so loud, it drown out all else. _‘Die alone! Die alone! Die alone!’_

“Die alone,” Pink Pearl whispered, then raised a foot delicately over the edge.

“ **NO**!”

 Hand grabbed Pink Pearl’s, and dragged her backwards. Pink Pearl felt frozen, her mind a fog. There was a bright light.

She stared down at her hands. There were four of them, two small, two large.

Her mind was clear. There was no more screaming.

“What is… what is this?” Rhodonite asked.

“I… think I… we fused… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…” Rhodonite answered, and she felt a rip tear down through her core. It didn’t feel good. There was a buzz of screams on the edge of her mind. “What is-“

“I don’t know… don’t leave me!” Rhodonite wailed, holding on tight to herself.

“I won’t, I don’t want to… it’s okay… it… we can stay like this… for a while…” Rhodonite sank down against the rooftop. No one would see them up here… this would be fine. “Just for a while…” Rhodonite laid on her back and stared up blankly at the blue sky and white clouds.

Something had happened, here, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with it.


	15. The Sorrow of Blue Diamond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rebels have intelligence that Blue Diamond has been wandering off in the wilderness on her own. They decide to launch an attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this will be the last chapter without a song. I'm pretty certain we only have 2 or 3 more chapters to go as well.

Rose Quartz reflected that honestly, living in the rebel base wasn’t much different for her than being a part of Pink Diamond’s entourage. She was still getting many gems vying for her attention. She drew looks wherever she went. When she spoke, gems listened.

            Yet still there were differences. Certainly she was asked for her opinion much more frequently. In fact, Rose was being asked so often she was beginning to think that maybe her advice was actually valuable. Certainly, she had never thought much on strategy before, but she found that she and Emerald were an excellent team coming up with battle tactics. While Emerald knew how to best incorporate the skills of different types of gems, Rose seemed to always have some ideas about using their environment to help them, and they had managed to deflect two different invasions from the Homeworld loyalists in the few weeks Rose had been on the base. On top of that, Rose seemed to be a natural at mediating disputes between different gems… the only dispute she couldn’t seem to end was the one between Pearl and herself.

            They weren’t fighting constantly. In fact, most of the time things were good. Pearl almost never left her side, and in quiet moments only the lightest bodily contact with the other gem made Rose feel safe and secure. But even so, every so often, Pearl would make a comment that spelled out exactly what her thoughts were. She believed the Diamonds, and those loyal to them, had to die. It wasn’t really a radical thought around the base, many gems seemed to think similarly. Even Bismuth seemed to think that it would become necessary to at least get rid of the Diamonds. Emerald voiced a few misgivings, trying to put forward the view that most of the gems loyal to the Diamonds were just afraid, and didn’t think the rebels had enough chance at victory to risk defecting to them. Scaphite was the only one that seemed to fully agree with Rose’s steadfast refusal to consider shattering as an acceptable answer, however.

            “We’d be the same as them, I agree with that,” Scaphite had nodded resolutely, even if many of the council members had made noises of disagreement.

            Whenever Pearl brought up her opinion on this matter, Rose had to defend her own side, and it always led to an argument. Sometimes that argument would end in sex. Sometimes it would end in tender apologies. Sometimes it would end in heated insults and leaving each other to cool down before coming together again hours later and pretending the fight hadn’t occurred at all. It was easier that way. But even if it was easier, they couldn’t keep this up forever. Well, they could, but Rose didn’t want to.

            Rose would come to regret avoiding the issue as long as she did. One afternoon, Rose was sitting in a meeting where Emerald was presenting new intelligence their spies had gathered. Only she, Pearl, Emerald, Bismuth, and Scaphite were present due to the nature of what was to be discussed.

            “Blue Diamond has become unhinged,” Emerald spoke bluntly as she paced the length of the meeting chamber. “She has been spending more and more time in the wilderness without her guard. It would seem that, if we want to strike another blow against the Diamonds, then Blue is the obvious target.”

            “So we need to shatter her, right?” Pearl piped up, looking eager. Rose’s face settled into a sharp frown. “She’s a Diamond, we all agreed they need to go. Bismuth, you’ve been improving the Party Crackers, right?”

            “Yeah…” Bismuth looked a little uncertain, “I’m not sure if they’re strong enough to shatter a Diamond though. They don’t even quite shatter weaker gems, it might damage them but… I’ve got something else I’m working on. Might be worth a look!”

            Rose couldn’t stand for this. She straightened and spoke in a much more certain voice than she had when she first joined the rebels. “Our first option shouldn’t be to shatter Blue Diamond. There must be some advantages to merely poofing her and holding her in a bubble!”

            “There is,” Scaphite said firmly. “For example, if we held Blue Diamond we would have an excellent hostage. There is no way that Yellow Diamond would dare act against us if we held Blue Diamond’s life in our hands.”

            “Right,” Rose nodded.

            “Are you kidding me?” Bismuth rolled her eyes. “Yellow Diamond is the one who snuffed Pink! Why would she care if we got rid of Blue? Less competition for her, right?”

            “No, Scaphite’s right,” Emerald said firmly. Rose saw Pearl sinking back in her seat, appearing unhappy as the conversation seemed to be moving away from her preferred solution. “Yellow Diamond didn’t like Pink Diamond. That was clear to anyone who saw them around each other. But equally obvious is the fact that Yellow Diamond cares for Blue very much. Probably as much as Blue clearly cared for Pink Diamond.”

            “Clearly…” Pearl muttered, then spoke a bit louder. “But if we bubble her, there’s a chance she could be found and freed. If she’s shattered, she’s not coming back.”

            “So we lose our bargaining chip entirely,” Scaphite pointed out. “If we aim to capture her first, we will always have the option to shatter her later if it turns out to be the best choice.”

            “And if we accidentally shatter her?” Bismuth asked with a surly smirk.

            “Then so be it,” said Emerald. “But I agree with Scaphite and Rose. Blue Diamond could have more value to us alive than dead.”

            “Well,” Pearl said, her voice salty, “Now that we’ve decided to let her live, how about we figure out how we’re going to take her down at all?”

            The meeting then turned to battle tactics and strategy, and as much as Rose was satisfied to capture Blue Diamond instead of shattering her… she was sure Pearl would make her hear about it later.

*

            Rose was wrong, however. Pearl did not make her hear about it. She was getting the silent treatment instead. Rose watched Pearl pointedly ignore her for hours, not opening her mouth once. It was far more frustrating than if Pearl had simply chewed into her like she obviously wanted to. However, it seemed like things followed the route of gaslighting, and by the next morning Pearl was talking to her as though nothing was wrong.

            It was still frustrating.

            Instead of commenting on it and rocking the boat, however, Rose returned Pearl’s smiles and kisses as though nothing was wrong. As usual.

            Later that day, Bismuth called a larger meeting with the full council. It was decided they would announce a call out for volunteers to go on a mission to kidnap Blue Diamond that next time she was reported outside the city on her own. Following this call out, a squad of 20 various gems followed Rose, Pearl, and Emerald out into the wilds while Scaphite and Bismuth stayed in the hills to take care of things and prepare for the inevitable retaliation of Yellow Diamond.

            They heard Blue Diamond before they saw her, though not long before as her shrouded form did tower tall enough above the trees. Still, she was letting out loud sobs and wails at odd intervals.

            “Geez, she’s really upset,” Emerald grimaced as they continued their sneaking march under the trees toward the Diamond. Emerald, Rose, and Pearl led the group, with the other seventeen gems murmuring quietly behind them.

            “Well, she lost someone very close to her,” Rose said quietly, “I know the feeling.”

            “Many of us do,” Emerald spat sharply, then shook her head. “Sorry I just… seeing her now. I can’t feel much sympathy for her, after everything she did to make other gems feel what she is now.”

            “And those gems wouldn’t have gotten away with running around crying like she is,” Pearl grumbled, folding her arms. “They would be shattered for skipping out on work and all this… I don’t feel bad for her at all.”

            Rose let out a deep sigh. “I know… I know she’s done awful things, and she needs to be stopped, but I still don’t like seeing her so upset over this… if only because it reminds me of those close to me who I’ve lost.”

            “Well, you won’t have to look at her long,” Pearl reasoned, eyes narrowed as she stared at Blue. “Are we close enough, do you think?”

            Emerald quickly judged the distance, then nodded, holding up her hands to signal the gems behind them to halt and prepare themselves. They were still several meters from Blue Diamond’s heel, but if they tried to get closer to her and her Pearl (whom was standing nearby and but facing a different direction) they risked being seen and losing the element of surprise.

            They waited a full ten seconds before Emerald was satisfied, and then she gave the hand signal to fire.

            In that moment, five jades released their arrows toward Blue’s midsection. Five more gems, three Amethysts and a pair of Rutiles, set off some Party Crackers at Blue Diamond’s arms, legs, and head to dissipate her form.  A couple of Jaspers, along with Rose, ran forward with some cables to trip Blue Diamond up if the Party Crackers didn’t work. A Carnelian ran to Blue Pearl, who was shrieking, and managed to poof her quickly and bubble her up so she wouldn’t get hurt in the ensuing event.

            Blue Diamond certainly did not expect such an assault. She screamed when she was hit. She turned, angry, but… did not fall. Her form did flicker, slightly, where the Party Cracker blasts had hit but otherwise, it seemed they had only succeeded in pissing her off. Carnelian dropped the bubble holding Blue Pearl and yelled, charging at Blue’s ankle, only to be stepped on. Crushed.

            “You dare to attack me?!” Blue Diamond demanded, “Did you think I was defenseless, being caught on my own? I do not know how you shattered Pink Diamond, but you won’t succeed again! I’ll destroy you for what you have done!”

            The rebels all let out various cries as giant, unnatural tears ran down their cheeks, obscuring their vision as Blue Diamond’s heel came down again.

            “ROSE!” Pearl yelled, and Rose gasped as Pearl pulled her out of the way. “Rose… let’s fuse! Let’s fight her together!”

            “Oh…” Rose stared at Pearl. “Right… yes, of course! EMERALD! Tell everyone to fuse, we can beat her together!”

            “Right! Good thinking!” Emerald nodded. “Jaspers, Amethysts, fuse immediately! Jades, you too!”

            Pearl snorted. “No, Emerald! She means like this!” Pearl grabbed Rose’s hands and both of them moved together, spinning close and pulling in for a kiss. The moment their lips touched, their forms glowed, and in a moment the beautiful, tall, Rainbow Quartz towered over Emerald’s head. Emerald’s jaw dropped as Rainbow Quartz summoned a weapon into her hand, a mighty lance with a pink-hued guard.

            “Wait… what?” Emerald gaped. She wasn’t the only one. But she recovered quickly enough. “That is… that is… BRILLIANT!” She laughed, “Everybody grab a partner! Doesn’t matter who!”

            “How dare you?!” Blue Diamond roared as the gems far below her began to dance, to glow, to change, to literally rise up against her. “How dare you fight me in such a state? Is this… this debauchery what you rebelled for?! Yellow is right, you DO all deserve to be eliminated!”

            “The only one here that will be eliminated is YOU!” Rainbow Quartz said with head held high. She leapt into the air with absolute grace as the other fusions, too new to know their own names, sent blasts and weapons to assail Blue Diamond’s midsection even as a wave of ice blanketed out from the Diamond to sweep over the ground. Some fusions became frozen to the ground, but they did not stop their attack. Rainbow Quartz was already in the air, streaking toward Blue Diamond’s chest, aimed directly at the gem that held everything the Diamond was. Rainbow Quartz was still so small compared to Blue Diamond. But the gem itself was still a bit smaller than the fusion, and even as Rainbow Quartz aimed a direct hit with her lance, a wiggling moment of pity came over the fusion.

            Blue Diamond, no matter how large or powerful she was… was still just her gem, in the end. Her gem, she was a gem too… she shouldn’t be… shattered…. Even if they could shatter her like this…

            At the last moment, Rainbow Quartz changed her grip on the lance, held it in both hands and rose, it buried it down just above the gem in Blue Diamond’s chest as she was distracted trying to fight the five fusions below. Blue Diamond let out a loud cry as the lance came down at an angle behind the great blue gem, and the Rainbow Quartz planted her feet to either side of the lance’s long handle and _pried_.

            Blue Diamond was sturdier than most gems. Most gems would have poofed as soon as the lance buried itself so far in their skin, if not the moment their gem was slightly moved in their light-based frame. Blue Diamond merely howled wordlessly, clearly in great pain as she scrambled at her chest.

            “NOT SO FAST!” A large Amethyst/Jade fusion yelled as they launched a grappling hook at one of Blue Diamond’s arms, yanking it down as the giant gem screeched. 

            “Keep going Rainbow! You’re doing amazing, sweetie!” Emerald had fused with both Rutiles, and the large, if rather skinny, gem leapt up with deft skill and grabbed Blue Diamond’s other arm herself, soon followed by another Amethyst fusion as their combined weight slowed Blue Diamond from reaching as Rainbow Quartz continued to push at the gem through the screaming and the tears and the cheering and everything and then…

            The gem popped out.

            And Blue Diamond poofed.

            Three fusions fell to the icy ground in a heap, and at first there was a moment of absolute quiet. Then, as one by one the fusions turned to the see intact, enormous Diamond on the ground, grins broke across their faces. They had won! THEY HAD WON!

            “WE DID IT!” Two fusions screamed, grabbing each other’s hands and spinning in a circle laughing until they glowed and became an even larger fusion. The new fusion looked down at herself, laughed again, harder, and then broke apart into four gems that lay in a pile clutching their sides.

            Emerald and the Rutiles unfused easily enough as well, and Emerald walked toward Blue Diamond’s gem with a more solemn expression. She nibbled her lip thoughtfully.

            “She is… awfully big, actually. Can we even…?” Emerald placed her hands on the gem and closed her eyes. Then squeezed them shut with effort as she grunted. A bubble started to form around the large gem, but before it got even halfway across the gem it fizzled out. Emerald backed up a step. “Okay, that… that’s problem.”

            The other gems were now watching Emerald with concern.

            “So… what do we…?” One of the Rutiles asked awkwardly.

            “We try again!” Rainbow Quartz said suddenly, “We try… together?” She dropped to her knees and grabbed the gem. Emerald shrugged and held on as well. They tried to bubble the gem together… but again, it didn’t go entirely around the giant gem before it fizzled. More gems joined but… even when the bubble closed, it popped the second they let go.

            Rainbow Quartz stared at the gem, eyes wide. “We… we can’t bubble her.” An extremely uncharacteristic snarl leeched its way over her face. “We can SHATTER her- NO!” Rainbow Quartz screamed, clutched her head, and then glowed as she tore in half, Rose and Pearl flung each to one side violently.

            “We CAN’T shatter her!” Rose screamed, getting to her feet and facing Pearl, fury over her features.

            “We have no CHOICE, Rose!” Pearl screamed back, her face bright blue in rage, eyes glinting in the dim light of the stars and full moon in the sky. “We can’t bubble her, we have to shatter her! We probably won’t get another chance!”

            “But it’s… it’s wrong! We can’t just shatter other gems, we can’t! To wipe out something from existence… it denies every possibility of change! Are we just going to replace the Diamonds with more gems that murder to get their way?”

            “Nothing will change until the Diamonds are GONE, Rose! Can’t you see that?!” Pearl snapped, looking increasingly frustrated.

            “But-“

            “Rose, I’m sorry, but Pearl is right. There is no other way. If we cannot capture Blue Diamond, we must shatter her. That was decided before we came out here,” Emerald said with deep finality. She had to stop this, the other gems around them we looking increasingly uncomfortable.

            “Also, Rose, didn’t you shatter a Diamond already?” an Amethyst asked hesitantly. Rose shivered, lowered her head, and from her shadowed face all could see a glisten of tears, and the drops as they hit the ground.

            “That’s enough,” Emerald said quietly. “Rose, you don’t have to watch this. Everyone with a Party Cracker, bring them here. We’re going to do this now.”

            The party crackers were aimed. Rose stood to one side, shaking hard and watching through her fingers as Emerald gave the order to fire, and her cry was not heard over the deafening blast.

            But as the smoke cleared, gasps of horror surrounded them. The gem was intact. It seemed Bismuth’s creation was not enough to damage the ‘perfection’ of a Diamond. Pearl let out a moan of dismay. Rose felt a twisting concoction of relief and fear in her gut.

            Then there was an order to attack, and the Homeworld soldiers were upon them.

*

            Yellow Diamond had been having a few gems secretly follow Blue Diamond into the wilds as scouts for several days. The were small gems, light and quick and quiet, because stars knew what a volatile Blue Diamond would do if she found out Yellow was spying on her. When these gems noticed the group of rebels heading for Blue Diamond, they had ran at top speed through the forest to the edge of the city where Yellow Diamond had awaited them for news. As soon as she heard what was occurring, she summoned a small army of various quartz gems and headed out herself into the wilds.

            As they closed in on where Blue Diamond had been last seen, Yellow had assumed the battle must have moved them elsewhere as her fellow Diamond’s enormous figure was nowhere to be seen. But this was quickly proved not to be the case as they heard the murmur of distracted voices, and came upon the clearing where a group of rebels surrounded Blue’s, thankfully intact, gem.

            The soldiers fell upon them at Yellow Diamond’s order. Flashes of colour marred the ground, the Yellow merely stood over them, her shadow darkening them as she watched, ready to pick out any rebels that tried to run.

            But the battle was chaotic, and it wasn’t that easy after a few moment to tell which quartzes were hers and which the rebels. She knew did watch the Rutiles though, and the Emerald, and… was that a Pearl of all things? Ridiculous, and…

            Yellow’s eyes widened at the flash of pink. A Rose Quartz? She was fighting with a… a shield?

            … it was THAT Rose Quartz. The one that had taken credit for Pink Diamond’s murder. Well, that would be the perfect gem to execute, to destroy the spirit of the rebels.

            But… Yellow Diamond wanted the rebellion to continue. If it stopped, the Earth may yet live on as a colony, and Yellow Diamond had started to come up with so many interesting ideas after seeing the way those gem shards had overpowered Pink Diamond.

            So as the rebels began to be poofed one by one, and Yellow watched the Rose Quartz be charged from behind. Yellow hummed and held out a finger, prepared to ‘accidentally’ hit her own soldier when, to her faint surprise, the Pearl jumped between the two and took the hit in the Rose Quartz’s place.

            The Rose Quartz was quick to scoop up the fragile gem and fought one handed, though at this rate she would soon be overpowered… but oh, the Emerald had found her, and urged her to run off with her little Pearl.

            Yellow Diamond passively watched the Rose Quartz run off into the trees as Emerald fought her soldiers to give them time. And as an Emerald, of course it took many soldiers to take her down. But they did, at last, deliver a finishing blow and Emerald was added to the pile of rebel gems that lay now in the center of the clearing.

            “Good work,” Yellow Diamond said genuinely as she smirked down at the pile. The soldiers had been careful to separate out their own of course, and held their fallen in their arms as their leader inspected the pile. She took Blue Diamond’s gem into her arms and tsked before bubbling it easily.

            “We are going to have to have a long talk,” Yellow Diamond muttered to the bubble before sending it back to the palace. “Did anyone find her Pearl?”

            “Here she is, my Diamond!” a Carnelian grinned as she held up the bubbled gem.  Yellow took that up to and sent the Pearl after her mistress.

            “Should we bubble the rebels then, my Diamond?” one Jasper asked, “To be taken to trial?”

            “These gems tried to shatter a Diamond,” Yellow Diamond said shortly. “There is no need for a trial.”

            Yellow Diamond leveled a hand at the pile of gems, and fired a blast of lighting that crackled loudly through the air and made every soldier’s hair stand on end.

            As Rose Quartz ran through the trees, she felt the moment those gems, her friends, were destroyed. She did not stop running, but her head bowed further over Pearl’s gem as she went faster and faster, her eyes flooding so she could barely see where she was going as she fled back to the rebel base. She couldn’t handle this. She was a failure as a soldier, she couldn’t keep watching gems die like this. She had to leave… she had to make sure Pearl was safe and then… and then she would have to go. Far from here. If it wasn’t for her… none of this would have happened. This rebellion was her fault. This shattering… it was on her hands. If she hadn’t claimed to have murdered Pink Diamond… if she hadn’t hit that damn mirror… if she had just stopped hanging around Rosey… if she hadn’t brought Amois with her… if she hadn’t met Pearl, if she hadn’t run after the Diamonds that day…

            If she hadn’t… if only she hadn’t… how many had been shattered and died because of her? How many more would be?

            Behind her, from every wet drop that hit the earth burst into masses of dark green moss that writhed and twisted on the ground.The sky was dark, made darker through the trees. Rose couldn’t see, and she stumbled, fell, Pearl’s gem flying out of her hands. Rose screeched as it bounced off the ground and landed in a patch of briars. Thorns would not harm most gems but Pearls… were fragile. Far too fragile.

When Rose pulled the glistening pearl gem from the brambles, she let out a pained cry. Down the surface of Pearl’s gem were several long, stark, scratches.             


	16. Meant to be Yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose Quartz, out of fear of how serious this war was becoming for her, flees back to the human village and leaves the damaged Pearl behind, believing she would be happier with the rebels. 
> 
> Pearl follows her, Rose is forced to face the monster she has created.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There has been a slight change and extension made to the last few paragraphs of chapter 15. Things will make a touch more sense in this chapter if you go back and read the edited version of the end of last chapter.
> 
> The songs in this chapter are Yo Girl and Meant to be Yours.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktnc1PrL8bQ&t=1s
> 
> Funny story but this animatic is both the reason I got into Heathers in the first place, and the reason this crossover exists. I had never even heard of this play till i was searching for Steven Universe animatics and found this one, liked the song, watched some more animatics for songs for it... then watched the play... but because of this animatic Heathers just became linked with Steven Universe in my mind.
> 
> Although this animatic is nothing like what this story has become, you should still go watch it because it is AMAZING.

Rose had returned to Amois and Rosey’s human village after making certain that Pearl’s gem had been left in the care of Bismuth and spending less than a week back at base herself, waiting for her to reform. If she did reform. No, she would, Rose believed that, though the long scratches down the surface of her gem… she might not be the same. It was all Rose’s fault.

The entire base had mourned the loss of Emerald and the other gems that had fought futilely against the Diamonds, and there was dissent in the ranks. There was talk about creating a memorial to commemorate the fallen. But what would the point of that be, if the Diamonds could just walk over them again, if perhaps there was no way to actually defeat them? All the work they had done would be erased anyway. The majority of the rebels were speaking louder and louder, demanding that Rose reveal how she had shattered Pink Diamond, and Bismuth was fretting about whether to tell the truth, and reveal they had been lying before. Scaphite was having a harder and harder time quelling fights, and it seemed that the rebellion was starting to shake at its foundations.

            There was a brief uproar a few days later when a single Jade and, incredibly, Emerald herself were recovered from the battlefield, only cracked and not blasted like the others. But they couldn’t reform properly, not even enough to speak, and with her confining to the infirmary, the sheer numbers there now were serving more as a symbol of hopelessness to their success than a promise of a kinder future of gems. Some gems were even suggesting perhaps that permanently bubbling the cracked gems would be kinder than leaving them able to stagger around in the state they were in, often incoherent and always on the verge of making their cracks worse. 

Emerald was the hardest for Rose to look at, now. Form flickering badly, lengthening and bulging in places, caving in in others. Her speech was garbled, and she screamed a lot. Rose caught herself thinking it would be better if she had just been shattered, and then hated herself for it. 

            It was a dire state, and as the fifth day after the battle with the Diamonds had passed, Bismuth had summoned Rose on her own to the secret crystal tunnel, regarding her with a solemn expression and told Rose she would have to leave.

            “I’ve thought it over, there’s no other way,” she said, looking genuinely sorry. “If you stay, you will either have to tell everyone the leaders of their rebellion lied about the very reason they thought they could have victory… or we might be overthrown just from the demands that you reveal your secret I… we can’t let either of those things happen. The rebellion will end entirely.”

            “And if I leave? Won’t that still make them think something is wrong?” Rose said, staring at the ground but knowing in her heart that if she had to leave, she wouldn’t complain too hard. It was obvious that she wasn’t prepared to do what was needed to win this war, after all. All she wanted to do was protect her friends… she failed even that, didn’t she?

            “Probably…” Bismuth sighed, folding her arms. “But we can possibly turn that to our favour. We could tell them you… used a special weapon with only a single use, that you were out searching the old secret rebel base for a second one. Or we could come up with a different story, I’m already seeing ways that could fall apart... They still might talk but… it’s less of a definitely death sentence, at least.”

            Rose had no response to that. She merely nodded. “I see. What… what about Pearl?”

            Bismuth huffed and ran a hand through her hair. “Well, it might be best if she went with you, but would she?”

            “What do you mean?”

            Bismuth gave a wane smile. “Sorry but… I know how much you’ve both been fighting. Pearl wants to fight, and to leave with you… would mean going into hiding. Would she agree to that?”

            Rose nibbled at her lip. “Perhaps not… and besides that… I don’t know how long she will take to reform. She’s shown no sign of doing so, thus far.”

            “No, she hasn’t,” Bismuth agreed. A moment of silence passed between the two. “Do you… do you have anywhere to go?”

            Rose thought for a moment, then showed a tiny smile. “Yes I… I know a human village. They cared for me before, I think they will again if I go to them.”

            “The one you plotted on the map for me before?”

            “Yes.”

            Bismuth smiled. “That sounds nice. Tell you what, if you leave now, or in a day or two, and Pearl’s not reformed yet, I could tell her that when she does. She can follow you if she wants, then, right? I don’t know if she can still fight with those scratches…”

            Rose looked down at her hands for a moment, then back up at Bismuth. “No… no I… can’t imagine Pearl enjoying being with humans. Tell… just tell her that I couldn’t handle the thought of shattering and… and I left. Just tell her that. Say you don’t know where I went. It might be… she’ll fight better I’m sure if she only commits herself to the rebellion and I don’t… I don’t want to force her into hiding. I don’t want her to feel divided, or that I expect her to join me. Just let her be free, here. Let her be free to fight as she sees fit. I’ll stay out of it. I’m sure she won’t let a few scratches hold her back. Nothing holds her back.”

            “Are you sure?” Bismuth said, looking concerned. “She might figure out where you went, anyway.”

            “Then…” Rose groaned a little and closed her eyes, remembering all the times Pearl had growled and glared. How, when they were Rainbow Quartz, how very badly she thirsted for Blue Diamond’s demise. Maybe she didn’t know Pearl so well. Maybe she and Pearl weren’t… weren’t right for each other. They were so different. Rose opened her eyes. “Then, tell her I don’t want to see her. Tell her not to follow me. Tell her that I…” Rose felt a spark of anger inside her. “Tell her that I don’t like the gem she has become. Just… don’t let her follow me, Bismuth.”

            Bismuth stared at Rose. “Um… if you’re going to break up with her, maybe you should actually wait for her to come to…”

            “No, you’re right, the sooner I leave the better.” Rose straightened. “I’m going to leave now. I trust you to handle things from here, goodness knows you were doing fine before I got here. You are a great leader.”

            Bismuth sniffled, then. “Geez, Rose, you’re making me cry here. Come on in!” Bismuth cracked and opened her arms, drawing Rose into a tight bear hug. Rose was startled at first, then returned the hug just as fiercely. She would miss Bismuth. She would miss everyone. But she couldn’t stay here. After a few minutes, Rose drew back and looked at the tunnel wall, the twinkling crystals there.

            “You know,” Rose laughed in a bittersweet sort of way, “When I was first born from the rock here on Earth, the first gems I saw weren’t other Rose Quartzes. They were the crystals in the walls of my Kindergarten. They were so beautiful. They’re still beautiful. They’re like us, the rebels, in a way. Weaker, perhaps, than some other gems but… we shine brighter, I think. We’re still beautiful.”

            “Yeah… that’s us, Crystal Gems,” Bismuth laughed as well, then looked thoughtful. “You know… heh, that’s actually a pretty great name. Maybe I’ll introduce it to everyone, see what they think. We could be known as the Crystal Gems.”

            “That would be beautiful,” Rose said, grabbed Bismuth’s hand to squeeze one more time, and then parted from her, out of the tunnel, into the wilds. She had a long trip ahead of her.

*

            The villagers had built a shrine to Rosey at the base of the peach tree that Rose had unintendedly grown in the center of the village. It looked very much like a miniature version of one of their houses, though open on one side, with the glowing bubble filled with her shards placed lovingly inside of it on display. In front of it lay offerings of food and flowers. When Rose caught sight of it amid the cheers and greetings of the villagers, she gave a sad shake of her head. It was a pointless activity, but she supposed if it made the humans feel good to give gifts to Rosey, she wasn’t going to stop them. In the coming days, Rose herself would stop by the shrine multiple times to talk in whispers to her old friend, and once she left a pink flower of her own among the other gifts.

            Amois’s sisters had been quick to ask where their brother was as soon as they were summoned out of the fields. Rose had wept then, openly, and the villagers had joined her. Amois was gone. The elders spoke of how he had died defending their home, that he died with honour, that he would be with Rosey on the “other side”.

            Rose said nothing. If the words comforted someone, why did it matter if they weren’t quite true?

            The villagers set up a room for Rose in the Elder’s house, though she did not spend much time there. Instead, she fell into the things she had been doing in the village before going to join the rebels. She helped the humans tend to their crops. She accompanied them on their hunts to protect them from danger. She continued learning to weave baskets, forcing her big hands to be nimble.

            As days passed into weeks, Rose began to feel more at peace than she had in a long time. The humans had opened the invitation for her to stay indefinitely. Here, the gem world seemed so far away. Maybe the rebels would win their war without her. Maybe she could just stay here forever. Live with the humans, is that not what she had always wanted? To work in the Zoo with cute, happy, humans, forever?

            Though watching them now, as they married and cared for their pets, and took such pride in growing food and making their own shelters… Rose could not imagine what it would be like to house these people in the Zoo. To give them only a false sky and sun, to take their millions of little choices from them, to turn them into… into what? Toys? Art pieces? No, no, Rose knew that nothing the gems could provide for the humans would be as wonderful as what the earth provided for them.

*

            The humans were not perfect. Rose knew that before, but when another human tribe came upon hers and attacked, and Rose was forced to see humans destroy each other in ways that seemed so much more violent than gems, she did not know what to do. She raised her shield, her bubble, kept as many safe as she could. Upon seeing her powers, the invading tribe seemed quick enough to run, but not before many humans were injured.

            Rose did not know how to feel as she watched the injured humans be cared for by their family and friends. Would they forever be burdens on the village now? But… over time, Rose was surprised to find the humans slowly healing themselves, bit by bit. Even the one whose leg was bent at an odd angle, like a cracked gem might be, was set in a splint and in a couple of weeks was able to hobble on it.

            Rose was further enchanted with the power humans had to change. To think, they could recover from injuries a gem couldn’t! Even if it took time, and humans had so little time… to know it was possible at all was astounding.

            Then, one of Amois’s sisters came down with a fever. The elders looked grim, though Rose did not know why. She did not know what a fever was, or why the elders were feeding her so many strange leaves and plants crushed into boiled water.

            Finally, the elders came to Rose and she certainly did not know what to do when one fell to his knees by her.

            “Please, she is my granddaughter. I know I am not worthy to ask,” the elder begged, “But please. If you have the power Rosey did… please help her.”

            “Help… help her how?” Rose asked, hesitant.

            “Do you not pity her?” The elder asked. “Does her impending death not bring you sadness?”

            “O-of course it does!” Rose had said.

            “Then please, please, weep over her,” the elder pleaded. “Weep over her, heal her… only you can help her now.”

            Rose had no idea what the man was talking about, but agreed to try.

            She found that, only looking at that small face, pale and sweating with sickness, raised in her the power to cry. She cried so much now. She leaned over the girl and wept as she had been begged to, not knowing how this could help, but not being about to do anything else.

            When she saw her tears glowing, like they had at the beach with Rosey so long ago now, over Jasper’s bubbled gem… she gasped. They landed on the girl beneath her… and soon the girl was glowing too. The humans around her seemed to collectively hold their breath as the girl opened her eyes. She took in a long breath. She smiled.

            She was healed.

            Rose had already been shocked when she found out her tears grew plant life from the earth. To learn she had the power, and Rosey too, it seemed, to heal organic life so effectively…

            How could it be possible? For a gem to have a power so far removed from anything the Diamonds would need… but then, after thinking about it for a long time, Rose realised that it made sense after all. Only Rose Quartz gems were allowed to work at the Zoo. Pink Diamond had always had a strange interest in preserving specimens of organic life, and having gems with powers that would help preserve it was logical. They were made to have an affinity for human life and for organic life… no wonder most Rose Quartz gems weren’t made aware of this power, as to use such things on earth would possibly increase the chances for rebelling.

            But then, if Rose Quartz gems had a secondary purpose devoted to organic life… then did that mean that Rose and Rosey had only been following their design after all? Were they not special or different, only following their secondary programing when they weren’t meant to?

            Rose knelt before Rosey’s shrine, and asked her if it was ever really possible for a gem to change. Bismuth still forged. Emerald still led an army. Scaphite… still cleaned up messes, in a way. Rose healed. She was made to heal. 

            Pearl… she was different. Flawed, perhaps. Been around too long. Damaged her own gem intentionally. Warped herself. Rose turned thoughts of Pearl over in her head over and over in the nights after the humans went to sleep until dawn’s light. Pearl had to have been flawless, once, to be accepted as White Diamond’s Pearl. She had to have changed. But Pearls… were a little different that most gems. They were made to order. They had to have a certain amount of… malleability to fit the needs of various owners.

            But even if Pearl had changed from a perfect servant and doll to a fighter and a soldier’s lover… she still was considered property of Rose by many. Even if she had changed, so many wouldn’t see that.

            Wouldn’t it be nice, Rose thought, if a gem could gain the power to change like the humans do? That… that was a better dream than working at the Zoo ever was. But even further away.

            And so time passed in relative peace, and Rose became the proper granter of life for the village, working every moment to be sure her humans, their pets and their crops, were all healthy and happy. And for a time, Rose was happy too.

            Then, everything was ruined.

            They found one of the villagers, a young woman, nursing a deep wound in her side as she hobbled into the village center. Rose quickly attended to her, but when she explained what had happened to her, Rose felt her skin prickle in horror.

            “There was… one of the ‘others’, the, the bad gems, the warrior women,” the woman had said. “She is looking for Rose. She demanded I tell her where we were hiding her.”

            “Did you tell her?” Rose had asked.

            The woman shook her head. “No, I said I did not know you. She grew more frustrated with me and lashed out. She stabbed me with a sword in her anger, but after I fell she looked afraid and ran away.”

            Rose hissed a little. “One of Yellow Diamond’s scouts, possibly?” she turned to the elders that were gathered near her. “One of the leaders of the gems. She… she saw me during my last battle with the rebels, she might’ve seen me run away. And she had plenty of scouts patrolling that area… I might’ve been seen heading this way. I-I’m sorry to have brought this upon you all. I can leave-“     

            “No, don’t!” The women yelped. “Please, you have only brought prosperity and life to our village, like Rosey did.”

            “Please,” Rose’s breath hitched, “I’m not… I’m not like Rosey. What I’ve done it… I don’t want what happened to Amois to happen to the rest of you.”

            “You won’t. We are stronger together. Let us fight with you, let us protect you as you have protected us. We will not fail you.”

            Rose froze for an instant, then pulled the girl into a tight hug. She could think to do nothing else.

            But that wasn’t the end. More and more villagers were coming back with stories of a ‘bad gem’ who had hurt them or interrogated them about Rose, getting closer and closer to discovering the village. The humans were only leaving the village in groups, now, and Rose was under guard, though she did not see much the weak humans could do to protect her even with their sharp weapons.

            Finally after three days of growing fear, Rose decided she needed more information. That’s when the horror of the situation really hit.

            “What sort of gems were they?” Rose asked a small group of humans who had met with the danger. “How many do you think there are?”

            “We have talked about it…” one older man said slowly, “We believe it is only one. Or at least, they all look the same.”

            “Are you sure?” Rose said with a frown, “The gem is always in the same place, too?”

            “Yes,” a woman said, placing her hand on her forehead. Rose hummed.

            “What did the gem look like?”

            “Smooth, a little damaged” the older man said, the other two nodded in agreement. Rose nodded along, humming.

            “That’s… unusual. Few gems are smooth. Was she tall?”

            “No, our height,” the woman said firmly. “Very thin, with bone white skin and a long nose. Like this…” the woman took up a stick and drew in the dirt, but Rose was shaking long before she finished, she turned away after just seeing the outline.

            Pearl. Oh god, why was it Pearl? Why was she here? Why was she hurting humans?!

            “Rose? What’s wrong? Do you know her?” the man asked. “It’s alright. Tonight, we will gather a group of warriors. We will find this gem and destroy her!”

Rose straightened herself abruptly and took a sharp step backwards. “I… I’m going to find her.”

*

            Against the protests of the humans, Rose ran off on her own to fast to follow. She couldn’t let this go on, and if it was Pearl… if it really was Pearl… her poor warped Pearl, she had left her damaged and alone, what had she reformed into?

            Rose clenched her fists and sang softly to herself. “ _Please, Pearl, keep it together. Who knew you’d go this far? Seems you’re truly a fighter. Look how dangerous you are.”_

            “God Pearl, why…” Rose slowed for a moment, then steeled herself and kept up her search, still singing.

            “ _Pearl, please, I’m feeling sick now. Seems we both are unwell. If things keep going this way, you’ll join Pink Diamond in hell.”_

            Rose thought she saw something thin run through the trees. She didn’t stop running, but she called. “Pearl?”

            _‘Guess who’s there in the trees?’_

            “Pearl, is that you?” Rose yelled, following the shape.

            _‘Guess who’s running so fast?’_

“Pearl, please, stop running from me!”

            _‘Guess who’s here for your blood?’_

“Stop running?!” Pearl’s voice seemed to echo all around Rose as she found herself breaking through the trees and had to pinwheel her arms to a stop before falling from a very, very tall cliff. “How can you say that, when you ran away from me?!” Pearl laughed behind her, and Rose swallowed hard.

_‘Time’s up! This moment’s your last!’_

Rose couldn’t move as she heard Pearl slowly walk behind her. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she could hear a sword scraping the ground. How angry was Pearl? If she was harming humans who had done nothing to her…

Rose felt a pulse quicken in her, and to the thrumming, words raced through her head.

‘ _Rose you’re running on, running on fumes now, Rose you’re totally fried! Rose you’ve gotta be kidding yourself now, thinking Pearl’s on your side! Rose it’s over, there’s no doubt now, time to pay for your sin! Rose you left her, now she’s back, and YOU! AREN’T! GOING! TO! WIN!’_

Pearl laughed harshly again, and Rose stiffed as a harsh point dug into her back. “I know it’s dreadful etiquette, showing up uninvited and damaging your… humans. But then, you left me damaged and ran off without a word, do isn’t that worse?”

Rose wet her lips. “P-Pearl, I’m, I’m sorry-“

            “ _Sorry?”_ Pearl mimicked, the point dug in further and Rose winced. “You’re SORRY?! I took a hit for you! I defended you with my life, and you left! What, you couldn’t bare to see what I’d look like with my gem damaged?! Is that it? I had no idea you were so shallow!”

            “No, Pearl, that’s not why I ran! I swear!”

            “Then look at me!” Pearl snapped, “Turn around and see what I did for you!”

            Rose shuddered, but turned her head as ordered and gasped.

            Pearl’s gem sat in the middle of her forehead as it always had. Down the visible center was one long, white scratch. Rose knew there must be more on the inside, she had seen what it looked like when she delivered her to the rebels. From the gem branching onto Pearl’s skin were two long white scars that ran down her face, over her eyes, all the way to her chin. She was different now. More jagged. Her chin was sharper than it was before, her nose ever so slightly bent. Her eyes held a deep hurt and fury Rose had never seen directed at her before, even in their worst fights. In her hands she held the sabres Bismuth had built for her, one still pointed at Rose, though no longer quite touching her.

            Her clothes were radically different. When Rose met Pearl she had a tight white body suit and a translucent cape hanging from her shoulders, her hair a perfect duck tail. After they had fled the gem city, Pearl had changed her appearance. She had curled the ends of her hair around her head, had eliminated the cape and stretched a pale pink body suit all the way to her ankles and wrists, thrilled to cover her skin for the first time and happy to wear Rose’s colours.

            But now… Rose could see that Pearl had tried to show more devotion to Rose than ever. She had a long translucent skirt to mimic Rose’s dress, with pink leggings and tank top, in the center of white was a rose emblem. Pearl had remade herself to reflect Rose’s image. But it was still wrong. Maybe it was the fighting that spoiled her feelings, more likely the scratches in her gem. But her hair, which perhaps she had tried to curl, lay limp and lifeless over her face, and looked fried and dry. There were dark circles beneath her eyes. The skirt had tears, and the tatters of it made Pearl look debauched and dirty in ways she never should. The rose emblem itself was off, it looked smeared and… stars…

            Even before Rose’s eyes, tiny bits of Pearl’s form would occasionally flicker and blur. She was hard to look at for long. Rose dropped her gaze again.

            “Pearl… Pearl I’m so sorry. I honestly did not mean to run from you.” Rose looked at Pearl, full of heartbreak.  “I was afraid. I was so, so afraid, Pearl. Emerald, all those gems, destroyed… and you were hurt, and we couldn’t shatter or bubble Blue Diamond. I didn’t know what to do, and Bismuth told me I had to leave because the other rebels wanted to know why I wouldn’t tell them how I-“

            Pearl’s face changed to shock. “Bismuth? Bismuth told you to leave without me?”

            “No!” Rose said quickly, “No, no, she told me to leave but told me to take you. But you wanted to be in the rebellion, Pearl, I couldn’t just take you from it against your will!”

            Pearl’s eyes narrowed, though her swords were lowered. “Gee, thanks for that. Instead you made me stay without giving me the option of following. Lucky for me I remembered where you said this village was, and I doubted there was anywhere else you would know to go. Are your pet humans really better company than me?”

            “No! No but…” Rose felt a spark of anger, “But I can’t believe you hurt them! You stabbed them, Pearl!”

            “I didn’t kill them,” Pearl muttered, looking down, “They weren’t even mortally wounded. I wouldn’t have hurt them at all if they had just told me where you were.”

            “They were scared of you!” Rose snapped, “You had no right to scare them!”

            “Why do you care about them so much?!” Pearl snapped back. “Are they more worthy of your protection and love than your fellow gems?! We’re fighting a war, and you’re out here playing in the trees with a bunch of… of organic animals, Rose!”

            “The earth was their planet first and besides I… I think I was made to take care of them… I never realised before but-“

            “I don’t want to hear this!” Pearl threw her hands in the air and turned, stomping backward a distance and began muttering to herself. Rose stared at Pearl’s back for a moment, growing more concerned.

            “Pearl? Are you okay?” Rose asked quietly, and Pearl suddenly laughed, loudly and spun on the spot. She dropped one sword to the ground and held out an empty hand, a manic grin on her face. Rose took a step back in alarm. “P-Pearl?”

            “You know what? All is forgiven, Rose!” Pearl giggled, “Who needs humans or the other rebels? You come with me, and be my date to the biggest, most EXPLOSIVE party the Homeworld Elites have seen yet on this planet!”

            “What?” Rose asked, deeply confused.

            Pearl kept grinning, eyes crazed as she spoke quickly. “The news came in just as I regenerated. Yellow Diamond is taking Blue Diamond personally back to Homeworld to recuperate from her poofing, and the elites are in charge, so they’re throwing nightly raves until they’re back!”

            “So what? What are you going to do?” Rose asked, though she was afraid to, “And… and why do you want me to be a part of it, I’ve hurt you so badly?”

            Pearl snorted, looking down so her hair shadowed her eyes and started to sing in a frantic way. “ _You chucked me out like I was trash for that you should be DEAD!_ ” Pearl pointed her remaining sword at Rose’s neck for a terrifying moment before laughing at Rose’s expression and swishing it away, then back and forth like a wagging finger. “ _But, but, but! Then it hit me like a flash! It’s time Homeworld went away instead! Those elite bitches are the key! They’re keeping you away from me! They made you blind, messed up your mind, but I can set you free!”_

            Rose looked on in horror as Pearl began to dance in time with whatever music was playing in her head. It looked violent. What was Pearl thinking? How was Homeworld keeping them apart now? And her voice it… there was a dissonance to it that was never there before. It rasped at the edges and made Rose’s skin crawl.

            “ _You left me and I fell apart, I punched the wall and cried, BAM! BAM! BAM!”_ Pearl screamed as she jumped up and down. “ _Then I found you changed my heart and set loose all that truthful noise inside!”_

            Pearl’s eyes glittered. “ _And so I learned to build a bomb. This Party Cracker won’t go wrong. I’ll guarantee those elites sing their final song!”_

Pearl lunged forward and grabbed Rose’s skirt, falling to her knees and looking up with reverence that Rose knew she did not deserve and stars, Pearl’s eyes were wild as she kept singing with feeling. “ _I was **meant** to be yours! We were **meant** to be one! Don’t give up on me now! Finish what we’ve begun! I was meant to be yours!”_

            Rose didn’t mean too, but Pearl scared her. On its own, a pink bubble sprang into existence around Rose to hide her, pushing Pearl backwards, but she did not seem to fully take offense. Pearl jumped back to her feet and walked away from Rose again, but she did not stop her song, though she sang faster now. “ _So when that stadium goes BOOM! With all those gems inside! BANG BANG BANG!”_ Pearl picked up her other sword again and waved both around in the air. “ _In the rubble of their tomb, we’ll plant a note explaining why they died!”_

            Pearl turned on her heel and brought her feet together. Standing at attention, she cleared her throat and recited to the sky, sword raised in the air, tinted pink to Rose by the bubble’s hue. “ _We the Gems of Pink Diamond’s Earth Base, are disgraced! Our jagged shards may finally get through, to you! Our society churns out slaves and blanks, no thanks. Signed, the Gems of Pink Diamond’s Base!”_ Pearl grinned unnaturally wide, pushing up the corners of her mouth with her long fingers. “ _Smiley face_!”

            Rose barely had time to process how insane this ‘plan’ was before Pearl was twirling around again, appearing to be visualizing this scene around her and _loving_ it. “ _We’ll watch the smoke and pieces fly! As Rainbow Quartz, we’ll close our eyes. We’ll smile and dance a ballet to their mournful cries!”_

            Pearl’s arms now stretched out to Rose as though asking for a hug, though her swords were still in her fists. Rose’s arms ached to hold her, to stop her, but she couldn’t move. “ _I was meant to be yours! We were meant to be one! I can’t do this alone! Finish what we’ve begun!”_

As though frustrated by Rose’s lack of response, Pearl began to scowl as she walked toward Rose, though her arms remained open, swords glistening in the fading light. “ _You were meant to be mine! I am all that you need! You carved open my heart! Can’t just leave me to bleed!”_

Pearl ran toward the bubble, and Rose jumped and let out a short yell as she slammed the blade of her swords down on it. A gong-like noise reverberated, though the bubble showed no damage. Pearl let out a whine and then pressed her full body against the bubble. “ _Rose Quartz, open the – open the door, please. Rose Quartz, open the door. Rose, please, can we not fight anymore, please can we not fight anymore?”_

Tears were now rolling fat and shiny down Pearl’s face, tracing the path of her scars. “ _Rose Quartz, sure, you’re scared, I’ve been there! I can set you free! Rose please, don’t make me come in there!”_ Pearl growled and stepped back again, drawing her swords back, looking ready to put in her full strength. “ _I’m gonna count to three! One! Two! FUCK IT!”_

Rose braced herself. Pearl slammed her full power, driven by rage and pain and a brand of wreckless insanity, into Rose’s bubble. The bubble went flying, with Rose inside, straight over the edge of the cliff. Rose screamed as the bubble fell down, down, down.

“Oh my stars! No! Rose!” Pearl yelled, running to the edge of the cliff and watching with wide, terrified eyes as the bubble fell into the treeline, and a loud cracking noise came from the branches. The tall trees shook and Pearl thought she heard a tinkling sound. Pearl sank to the ground, turned away from the cliff, and drew herself into a tight ball as she covered her mouth tight with her hand. She was shaking so very hard. “ _P-please don’t leave me alone…”_ She buried her face in her knees. “ _You were… all I could trust…”_ She sobbed as visions of Rose’s face danced before her eyes. Rose smiling, laughing. Rose sobbing, wrathful. Rose frightened… falling… gone. “ _I can’t… do this… alone…”_

But she couldn’t lay there. She uncurled, her mind stuttering and blanking out a few times as she slowly got back up to her feet, already working to overwrite what she had done. She stared at the treeline. She did not look back at the cliff again. Her form was flickering, flickering.

She had one more mission to complete. Then she could join Rose.

“ _STILL I WILL IF I MUST!”_ she cried to the sky. A flock of crows burst from the branches over Pearl’s head as she ran away, far away, to finish what was begun.

4 hours later, on the ground far below, Rose stared up at the sky, hands over her gem as she realized the full scope of what Pearl wanted to do. Her bubble had shattered on impact with the ground, it hadn’t been fully stable to begin with, but Rose was alright, for the moment. She had just poofed, and her sense of urgency and soldier status allowed her to regenerate fairly quickly. Pearl had had a long headstart.

Taking a shaky breath, Rose slowly sat up and stumbled to her feet.

She didn’t know if Pearl was merely raving, or if she really did have the means to take out an entire stadium full of elite gems. She didn’t know what Pearl was trying to accomplish.

Whatever it was, Rose had to go after her. And if Pearl could not be saved, would not see reason, Rose would have to fight her. Stop her. And if the fighting got too rough and fragile, hurt Pearl was damaged more, even… shattered…

Rose shook, but started walking, then running, then leaping as she headed in the direction of the Earth’s First Gem City. She would not let Pearl shatter hundreds of gems. If she was determined to do so, Rose would have to stop her by any means necessary. She had created this monster, after all. She would finish what she began.


	17. I Am Damaged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose follows Pearl. They have their final showdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short. There will be only one more chapter after this. It will serve as both this story's conclusion and its epilogue. I may actually be posting it tonight, but I felt as though the end of this chapter was a natural break, and otherwise I was afraid the last chapter would be far too long. So, here it is. Hope you enjoy.
> 
> The songs in this chapter are Dead Girl Walking Reprise and I Am Damaged.

The sky was overcast and threatening rain. The wind was blowing strongly, and Rose stood just outside the Gem City, hair swept around her face, obscuring her eyes and any emotion they held. She had travelled a full night and day, hoping that she would have caught up with Pearl eventually. But she had not. All should could assume was that Pearl may well be here. She surely had enough hours to have set up whatever bombs she claimed to be able to construct.

            Rose hoped she had only been rambling, but Pearl was clearly unhinged and unpredictable. Even if she didn’t have enough bombs to destroy the entire Stadium, she may well have stolen more Party Crackers, or something similar, from the rebel base. She could still cause great damage.

            Rose clenched her hands into fists and, cheeks and fingers red from the chill in the air, she marched into the streets of the City, where she had not been in many months, though once it was her whole world. It was quiet at the edge of the City. So many gems had been shattered. So many gems had defected.

            So many gems were at the rave, deep in the heart of the City.

            As she marched down empty streets in the growing darkness and roaring wind, she sang.

            “ _I wanted someone strong, who would fight with me. I let her anger fester and infect me. Her solution is a lie! No here deserves to die! Except for me and monster I created!”_

            Rose threw a fist in the air and picked up her pace. “ _Yeah! Yeah! Heads up Pearl, I’m a dead gem walking! Can’t hide from me, I’m your dead gem walking!”_

            In the distance far ahead, Rose could hear the drifting sounds of gems chanting and singing, carried by the breeze. They sang, “ _Hey yo, Homeworld’s here! Hey yo, Homeworld’s here!”_

            A crack of thunder echoed, and in the distance lightning flashed. Drops of rain began to fall, but that wouldn’t stop the party. The Lapis Lazuli’s could create a dome to shelter them. The lightning would be like fireworks. Another crack pierced the quiet streets and the wind seemed to blow faster between the buildings. Rose squinted and sang louder.

            “ _There’s your final bell! It’s one more dance and then farewell. Cheek to cheek in hell with a dead gem… walkin…”_

As the Stadium came into view, a shimmering dome above it as predicted, Rose heard the singing from within much more clearly. “ _Come on, Homeworld’s here! Here we go! Here we go now!”_

“You!”

Rose turned her head so fast her neck cricked, staring off into the darkness of an alleyway. Her jaw dropped. “Pink… Pink Pearl.”

Rose’s heart ached as the skinny gem before her covered her mouth with her hand in a horribly familiar gesture. Her hair hung limp in the rain. Her face was dirty. Why was she in an alley?

“It’s you! The Rose Quartz!” an awed voice gasped and Rose noticed a tiny Ruby stepping from the shadows as well, holding onto Pink Pearl’s hand. They made an odd looking pair. Rose’s gut twisted as she remembered five other Rubies she had met not so long ago.

“What are you doing back here?” Pink Pearl hissed, a flash of anger in her eyes. “If you’re caught, they’ll shatter you instantly!”

“If I don’t get into that stadium… a lot more gems will shatter tonight.” Rose shivered under the pounding rain. “What are you both doing out here? Shouldn’t you be in there?”

Ruby shook her head. “I’m not welcome in there for that kind of party.”

“Neither am I… not anymore.” Pink Pearl’s shoulders slumped. She looked so small. How had Rose ever feared her?

“Alright but… why are you here?”

“We… we were going to run, tonight,” Ruby admitted, “Head for the rebels… if they’ll take us. But the storm started up and we tried to take shelter in the alley… I’m no good in the rain…”

“What’s the point, anyway? We don’t even know where the rebels are.” Pink Pearl looked at Ruby with a heartbreaking expression. “It’s hopeless.”

Rose looked between the two, then grit her teeth. “Listen. I’m going into the Stadium. I’m… probably going to head into the rooms below it. Get out of here, wait on the edge of town. If I’m not there in half an hour… head into the hills. Someone will find you and guide you where you need to go. But if I catch up with you, I’ll lead you there myself. But… don’t count on that. Don’t wait longer. And… and if you hear explosions… leave the second you do.”

“E-explosions?” Pink Pearl’s eye twitched and she clutched Ruby close to her. “W-why would…”

“I have to go, remember what I said.”

“Rose Quartz! What’s going on?!” Ruby asked as the wind whipped up and Rose turned, calling over her shoulder.

“ _Got no time to talk, I’m a dead gem walking!”_

Pink Pearl and Ruby looked at each other, pressed their foreheads together, and as Rhodinite they ran off in the opposite direction from where Rose was heading, the din from the Stadium rising with the storm.

“ _Hey yo, Homeworld’s here! Hey yo, Homeworld’s here! Tell me, what’s that sound? Here comes Homeworld here, coming to put you in the ground!”_

Rose didn’t both entering the Stadium through the big gates, she knew it would be guarded. Instead she circled around to a heavy set of utility doors and with a well placed smack she broke them open, the sound masked by another rumble of thunder. She ran down a dark, concrete set of stairs as the sound from the Stadium still echoed around her, only a bit muffled.

“ _Go, go, Homeworld’s here! Give a great big yell! Homeworld here will knock you out and SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL!”_

As Rose neared the bottom of the stairs, she heard a scraping noise, and muttering. Familiar muttering. Pearl was here. Pearl was going to… to do something. Rose squinted into the darkness, and moved forward into the gloom. She found herself in a corridor, but from the far end was a room with a soft glow coming from it, flickering slightly. She crept toward it. The muttering grew louder, but no more decipherable, save for a few choice curses.

Rose walked in front of the doorway. Pearl was lighting her way with her gem, though the beam of light was not very bright. She was fiddling with a Party Cracker, though it looked… partially disassembled. Nothing to aim with, like this… to set it off would likely fill a room with the blast. As Rose looked around, she saw a number of other Party Crackers around her, and wires. They weren’t far beneath the Stadium, and Rose had enough power stockpiled here to cause a lot of damage.

Pearl looked like she was trying to set the Cracker in her hands off, but she was having trouble. She was shaking too badly, couldn’t see it properly. Rose steeled herself.

“Pearl. Step away from the bomb.”

Pearl’s head jerked up and stared at Rose… or was it through her? She looked so vacant, and didn’t look as surprised to see her as she should be. Rose saw her gem had a new scratch decorating the surface. When had that happened. Pearl stared at Rose for a few more seconds before laughing. It was a sudden, jarring sound.

“This little thing?” Pearl pointed at the device in her hands. “I’d hardly call this a comb! This is just to set off the many, many Party Crackers here and up in the Stadium I set up earlier! THOSE are bombs.” She tittered. “Funny, isn’t it? These things will really crack up that party, right? Get it!?”

“Pearl, please,” Rose tried to step toward Pearl, but Pearl jumped backward, clutching the modified Party Cracker to her chest.

“The Diamonds will see the ashes of a Stadium full of elite gems and they’ll say, this is a colony that self-destructed! Not because the aristocracy didn’t care, but because that colony WAS the aristocracy!”

“Pearl, you’re not making sense!” Rose insisted. “Please, doing this will solve nothing. Maybe… maybe we can try something else. Talk to them, talk to the Diamonds. Maybe one day… one day they’ll see off colours like us and like Rosey are-“

“The only place Diamonds and Off Colours can truly get long is in a big heap of SHARDS!” Pearl screeched. Her form convulsed badly, she fell backward into a shelf and hit her head. She let out a pained groan, but struggled to her feet, still holding her detonator. Rose was horrified to see on of the crack’s in Pearl’s gem lengthen before her eyes.

Rose’s eyes softened with deep pity, and softly she sang to her poor, hurt Pearl. “ _I wish we had been made a little stronger. I wish we’d been at peace a little longer.”_ Pearl pressed herself against the shelf and turned her face away. She flickered. Rose felt tears prick her eyes. “ _I wish Diamonds were good! I wish all gems understood! I wish we talked before they all convinced you life is war! I wish you’d come with me-!”_

Pearl’s gaze snapped back to Rose, now looking her dead in the eyes. It wasn’t a nice look.

“I wish I had more TNT,” she said coldly. Her finger poised itself nimbly on the button and she pushed down. The bomb began to tick. Rose moved.

She launched herself at Pearl, pushing her back into the shelf and wrestling the bomb out of her hands.

“Ah! WHY?!” Pearl screamed. Rose tried to run with the bomb, but there was a swishing sound and pain blossomed along her arm. She dropped the detonator to grab the wound, and saw Pearl had gotten her swords again, and had stabilized enough in her anger to wield them.  Solemn feeling settled in Rose as she summoned her shield and slid into a fighting stance. They lunged at each other. Smacking and dodging, dancing a violent dance in time to the beat as the bomb ticked down to their shared doom.

Above, stomping was heard on the ceiling. The chanting had risen in volume outside. “ _Hey yo, Homeworld’s here! Tell me what’s that sound? Here comes your Homeworld! Coming to put you in the ground! Look, see, Homeworld’s here! Give a great big yell! Homeworld will come and knock you out, and send you straight to hell!”_

Pearl had missed on her last blow. She swung herself around to get under Rose’s shield, but Rose moved her arm down to block her.

The shield struck Pearl’s gem dead on. Both gems cried out. Pearl cried in pain. Rose cried in despair as cracks spread out from the center of the gem, and then spread across Pearl’s face. Though Rose only saw the sight for a terrible moment before Pearl covered her face, sinking to her knees as the scars travel out from her fingers, down her neck and chest. Reached down to cover her arms.

The bomb kept ticking. Who knows how much time was left? Rose had no idea how to disarm it. She tried to hold down a button. There was a clicking sound, then a voice spoke from the device. Rose didn’t even know it could do that.

Bismuth’s voice crackled and spoke in a recorded, tinny voice. “ _Release button to trigger detonation immediately.”_

So this was it. Rose’s fate was sealed. She took one last, hopeless look at Pearl, and fled.

*

            Rose couldn’t stop to think or to cry. She fled the Stadium and ran across the city, in the direction opposite the hills where Ruby and Pink Pearl may yet be waiting her. She had a single, logical thought. If the Diamonds were gone, and the elites were all at the Stadium, the palace would be empty.

            The bomb could detonate there. No gem would be harmed. None but her.

            She entered the palace’s soaked courtyard and looked around. No one was there, as expected. Even if they weren’t at the party, no one would be out in such rain. Rose walked to the center of the courtyard, then looked down at the bomb, her finger still pressing the button down.

            She was about to die.

            At least… at least it would be on her own terms.

            She was shaking.

            “R-R-R-o-o-se. St-Stop.”

            Rose started, and turned sharply. She let out a moan of horror. It was Pearl. Pearl, covered in scars, flickering more than ever, her form blurring and fading at the edges. Her gem looked so damaged it was absolutely astounding she hadn’t poofed from the strain of it, but then, her gem had been abused for centuries by now. Perhaps it was more used to it than another’s gem would be. Certainly the average gem wouldn’t be able to walk this this, and certainly not talk. Although, her voice reverberated badly, and had an echo quality as though heard from a distance down a very long tunnel.

            “Pearl… I’m sorry Pearl but… I can’t let you hurt anyone else.”

            “I know.” Pearl’s voice was so quiet, so distant. She flickered again, staggered forward inch by inch. Every movement seemed to hurt her. “It… it’s okay, R-Rose. You win. You win and…” Pearl let out a tiny giggle that rattled her whole body. Her face soured, and when she opened her mouth again she was singing. She sounded like a broken music box, all tinkling bells and offkey twangs and stammers.

            Rose still thought it was the loveliest voice she had ever heard.

            “ _I… am d-damaged.”_ Her form flicked and twisted before Rose’s eyes, but came back together as though Pearl was using all her strength to will it so. “ _Far-ar too damaged. But you’re not beyond repair. Stick around-ound here, make things better, cause you be-beat me fair and squ-squ-square.”_      

            “Pearl… Pearl stop, you’re just… hurting yourself… stop…” Rose heaved a sob as Pearl managed to struggle toward her. Rose tried to pull back, but her fingers were numb from hold tightly she held the bomb, and somehow Pearl managed to take it easily from her hands, careful to slide her finger over the button as it was pulled from Rose to keep it from going off. “Pearl…” Rose’s cheeks were wet, not just from the rain that seemed to have let up a little from the torrent earlier, though still both gems were soaked to the skin. “No…”

            To Rose’s protests, Pearl gave only a sad, half smile. “ _Please stand back now. L-little further. Don’t know what this thing will do.”_ Pearl stepped back herself. Rose didn’t move, couldn’t move. Stars, she wanted to move, but whether it was from fear or the cold rain she frozen, eyes wide and brimming.

            Pearl held the bomb close to her chest. “ _Hope you’ll miss me. Wish you’d kiss me. Then you’d know, I worship you.”_

            “Please don’t…” Rose whispered.

            “ _I’ll tr-trade my life for yours…”_

“Oh my stars…”

            _“And once I dis-disappear…”_ Pearl was flickering so very hard, so covered in scars, in cracks, all over, the rain running through and over them like rivers.

_“Wait, hold on!”_

_“Clean up the mess down here.”_

_“Not this way!”_ Rose’s voice rasped, and she fell to her knees. She could do nothing. Nothing.

            Pearl kept smiling at her. Sadly. So sadly. If she was crying, too, Rose couldn’t tell. But the rain made it seem so.

            Pearl let out a sigh. “ _Our love is God._ ” She took a step backward. “ _Our love is God._ ” She took another step. “ _Our love is God.”_ She held the bomb outstretched in front of her. “ _Our love is God.”_ She extended every finger but the one on the button, holding the Party Cracker between her slick palms. “ _Our love is God.”_ She looked Rose in the eyes from her place, knelt on the ground across the courtyard from her in a growing lake of rain. Thunder rumbled, further away than it had been before.

            Rose lowered her eyes to Pearl’s tattered and torn ballet shoes.

            “ _Say hi to God.”_

            Pearl released the button. The bomb went off with a blinding light. And Rose was alone.


	18. Tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storm is clearing, and Rose learns something about herself that will change everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter.
> 
> I loved writing this story. I'm going to miss it.
> 
> The song in this chapter is Seventeen Reprise. 
> 
> Think of the bold text at the end as onscreen text if this was a movie, a la Breakfast Club.

It seemed that, as damaged as Pearl’s gem had already been, the bomb hadn’t done much more to it. Or, perhaps it had, but it was so far gone you couldn’t tell the difference for the most part. Aside from the fact that what remained of it had been broken clean in half.

            Rose gathered both halves into her lap. She stared down at them. She would have to bubble them, eventually. Soon. But not yet. She ran her fingers over the many grooves, over and over again. She paid no mind to the ending storm around her, as the wind died down and the rain slowed to a drizzle.

            Pearl was gone.

            Rose had driven her to this.

            The universe had driven her to this.

            Why had things gone so far, so fast? Surely they had not met that long ago. Perhaps Rose disagreed with Pearl’s beliefs but she had never wanted this for her. Not for this beautiful, incredible gem. The Pearl who fought like a soldier. The Pearl who held her heart.

            Now Rose held Pearl’s broken heart in her hands and felt so very, very helpless. What would she do now? Catch up with Ruby and Pink Pearl? Bring them to the rebels? Would she join the rebels again, go back to the human village? What would Pearl want? What would Rose want?

            Rose would never hear Pearl sing again. Would never see her dance. Would never dance with her, or form Rainbow Quartz. She wouldn’t hear her laugh, or fight with her. Would she even miss their fights? Of course she would… she would miss everything about her.

            Pearl was so very small in Rose’s hands. Her gem smaller still, now.

            Pearl was broken, and there was nothing Rose could do for her now.

            Rose choked on a sob, shutting her eyes tight against another wave of tears.

            Pearl was gone, and Rose was useless.

            Tears fell anyway. Rose held the halves of Pearl together, though it could do any good. The gem was so rough in her hands.

            Tears fell more rapidly. Rose’s eyes were closed so tight she thought she saw pink stars of light. She sobbed again. She wailed, not caring if anyone was around to hear her.

            Pearl was gone. She was broken. She was shattered. Rose wanted to save her. Stars, she would do anything to save her. Pearl’s life couldn’t end like this!

            But… it had ended. She lowered her hands, and moved them apart to separate the halves of the gem again.

            Or tried. One hand slipped off the slick, smooth surface.

            Rose opened her eyes, just as a pink, glowing tear fell and hit the surface of Pearl’s gem to join with many others, that coated it and absorbed into it. That filled in the cracked, and… and glued the halves together and… and they were glowing.

            Coming together.

            Rose’s breath caught as the now-fully smooth gem slipped from her hands entirely and landed safely in her skirt.

            Rose brought a hand up slowly to her face and wiped at her cheek, holding it away from her face to stare at the pink hued tear.

            She didn’t just heal organic matter?

            She… she could heal… other gems…

            Rose let out a breathless laugh as she ran her still-wet fingers over Pearl’s gem. It swallowed these tears as readily as the rest. It glowed faintly pink in the light of the few stars now poking through the clouds overhead.

            And then the entire gem glowed white and rose into the air in front of Rose’s face. And Pearl exploded from it. A radiant hue of colour beamed from her form as it stabilized… and Rose admired the change as she hovered in the air for a moment, eyes shut as the light breeze ruffled her hair and clothes.

            Pearl’s hair was short, and curled at the ends. Her top was blue, with a translucent collar. She had yellow leggings, and pink shoes, along with a small translucent skirt. As gravity began to affect her, she lowered back to earth, her legs curling under her as she fell neatly into Rose’s lap.

            Her eyes opened, and she looked up at Rose with stars gleaming in her eyes.

            “ _Rose_ ,” she whispered, in absolute reverence and awe, “Rose… how…?”

            Rose let out a sob that mixed with a laugh as she wiped at her eyes again and showed Pearl the tears. “Pearl I… I can heal gems, Pearl. I can heal… I can heal Emerald.” Rose’s eyes widened. “I can heal Jade, all of them, even…” Could she heal Rosey? Could she? Pearl was cleaved in half, could she possibly…

            Pearl grabbed Rose’s shoulders, and pulled her into a kiss. When they pulled back, Rose had stars in her own eyes, and Pearl grinned. “Rose, this changes _everything!_ This can turn the tide of the war! I know, before when I was... hurt, I wasn''t thinking clearly. I only thought that we were so outnumbered, I could get rid of a bunch of important gems at once... but now that won't matter! We can heal our fighters as quick as they're hurt, this is... incredible!”

Rose smiled at Pearl, but it was pained. "Yes, Pearl, this changes things, and I'm going to heal the gems, of course but... do you... do you regret anything you just did, any of it?"

The smile slipped from Pearl's face. She looked down at Rose's chest. "I... regret hurting your humans. In my right mind, I never would have done that." Pearl felt Rose's eyes on her and squeezed her own shut. "Rose, I don't regret trying to destroy the enemy. I can't regret that. I know what they are, all the crimes they've committed. I will not regret it." Rose lowered her own head and her shoulders shook. But they stopped shaking when she felt Pearl's hands on her face. "That said... Apparently that mind set can be... Self destructive? There could be a better way." When she opened her eyes, Pearl was looking at her from a hairs breadth away. "Rose... I don't regret it but... I won't do it again."

"You won't?" Rose breathed.

"No," Pearl laughed, stealing a kiss and pulling back. "No, Rose. I think if anything, this experience has made me realize how passionately you feel about this. And... and that maybe I was being a little... obsessive. I scared you. I didn't want to do that." She held herself carefully. "I want you to be happy. I want us to be happy. If you think there's a way to defeat Homeworld without shattering the Diamonds then... I'll trust your judgement. And your leadership."

"I'm not much of a leader."

"Yes Rose, you are," Pearl gave a watery smile. "You are compassionate, and kind, and do what you feel needs to be done. And that... that's all I can ask of a leader. Do you... do you think I can be your Pearl, again?"

"My Pearl..." Rose said softly, and Pearl visible shivered. Rose smiled. "Only if I can be your Rose."

Pearl let out a happy cry and hugged Rose tightly about the neck. "That's why I'm your Pearl! My Rose... yes... yes..."

            Both gems froze then, as they heard sounds of laughter and walking approaching. It seemed that the first gems were leaving the party now.

             Rose and Pearl locked eyes, smiled, held hands, and took off together into the shadows and over the courtyard wall.

            They ran through the city streets together, laughing as they avoided drunken gems left and right. They were sure they were spotted a couple of times, but most gems seemed too drunk to notice or care. They waved at an Agate that looked close to falling asleep near a doorway, and roared with laughed when she fell over completely in shock.

            They ran to the edge of the city and beyond it. Within an hour, they ran across Rhodinite, who was so shocked to see Rose and Pearl that she split apart and both Pink Pearl and Ruby sat rubbing their asses in pain for a moment.

            “Where were you?!” Ruby asked after she had collected herself. “Pink Pearl thought you’d killed yourself!”

            Pink Pearl folded her arms, as though trying to maintain some dignity. “Well, you looked like hell before you ran off. Still look like hell, actually.”

            Rose snorted. “Well, I just got back.” She smiled at Pearl. “Time to go home.”

            “Right… home…” Ruby looked off to the distant hills and bit her lip. “Listen uh… you’re THE Rose Quartz, right? The one Pink Pearl framed for shattering Pink Diamond?”

            “That’s right!” Pearl piped up, hugging Rose tightly. Rose blushed.

            “That’s… me. But, er, don't let it get out I was framed? We've spent a lot of time building off the idea that I did...”

            “So… you’re leading the rebellion right?” Ruby asked.

            “She better be!” Pink Pearl snapped, getting to her feet finally. “I put a lot of effort into writing that fake letter on her behalf, I’ll have you know!”

            “I…” Rose Quartz looked at Pearl hanging onto her, and thought of all the other gems back in those hills that depended on her. “I’m doing my best, I would say.”

            “So… well…” Ruby looked at Pink Pearl, who huffed.

            “Well, are the rebels going to win this war or what? Are we going to shatter the other Diamonds too? The elites? We have to, to win this war, don’t we? You’re a soldier, what’s the strategy?”

            Pearl’s fingers dug into Rose’s arm. They both shared a fearful look, and Pearl touched her gem absently. Rose swallowed, but a thought occurred to her. “I think… that there is no need to shatter to win this war. We will fight. We will take prisoners. And when the time comes, we will face the Diamonds, and drive them from this planet. But there will be no more shattering. Gems do not exist to kill each other.”

            Pink Pearl scoffed. “And who are you to say how we’re going to fight a war?”

            Rose smirked, head lowered, her eyes shaded from view. “I… am Rose Quartz. And I am the leader of the Crystal Gems.”

            “The what?” Pearl asked, confused.

When Rose turned to Pink Pearl, she smiled warmly. “ _Listen up, gems, this war’s just starting, a new sheriff’s come to down. I am not like any Diamond, I will put my weapons down.”_

            She held Pearl tight to her side and looked at Pink Pearl with kind eyes. “ _We’re all damaged, we’re all frightened, we’re all freaks… but that’s alright. We’ll endure it. We’ll survive it. Will you join us, Rhodinite?”_

            “Rhodinite?” Ruby and Pink Pearl looked at each other, shared a precious smile, and held each other again until Rhodinite sprouted in their place and looked Rose eye to eye.

            “The Diamonds made us think fusions are war machines. Do you want to fight, Rhodinite?”

            “Fight?” Rhodinite shivered at the very thought and looked scandalized. “No but… well, doesn’t someone have to?”

            Rose sighed, and reached out to gently take Rhodinite’s hand. “ _I can’t promise no more battles. This war may not have an end. Still, I like you, I’d be honoured, if you’d let me be your friend.”_

 _“My friend?”_ Rhodinite answered, shocked, but squeezed Rose’s hand in hers.

            Rose smiled, and with Pearl pressed to her side and Rhodinite’s hand in her own, began walking back to the hills. “ _We can be free at last. We can learn how to chill. If can’t win this now, some day I know we will!”_

Rose took Pearl’s hand and started running, bringing her charges with her. They stumbled at first, but soon followed her, smiles breaking onto their faces. “ _”We can be free at last!”_ Rose sang, “ _Still time to make things right! One day we’ll change the world, but let us love tonight!”_

            Pearl and Rhodinite couldn’t help it anymore, and joined Rose in song. She sounded so joyous. When Rose Quartz truly believed something, gems could not help but follow her.

            “ _Let’s go be free at last! Let us fuse, and dance! You know, you know, you know, we can be beautiful!”_ They laughed. Tears flooded down Rhodinite’s face from four eyes. _“Act like we’re all innocent, cause this may be our final chance!”_

They hills in the distance did not look any closer, but they knew they were still nearing them, one running leap at a time.

            “ _Always be free at heart! Celebrate you and I! Maybe we won’t grow old, and maybe then we’ll never die!”_

_We’ll make it beautiful…_

**RHODINITE WENT ON TO FIGHT WITH THE REBELS AS A PERMANENT FUSION FOR A HUNDRED YEARS. SHE WOULD EVENTUALLY LEAVE EARTH WITH A SMALL GROUP OF REBELS INTENDING TO SPY ON HOMEWORLD. THEY WERE IN HIDING IN THE HOMEWORLD KINDERGARTEN WHEN THEY GOT WORD THE EARTH HAD BEEN DESTROYED BY THE DIAMONDS. THEY WOULD REMAIN ON HOMEWORLD IN HIDING FOR 5000 YEARS BEFORE FINALLY MAKING THE JOURNEY HOME.**

_We’ll make it beautiful…_

**BISMUTH WOULD CONTINUE TO BE A KEY LEADER IN THE NOW NAMED CRYSTAL GEMS. SHE WOULD INSPIRE COUNTLESS GEMS TO BE THEMSELVES AND FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHT TO BE UNIQUE AND FREE. SHE WOULD EVENTUALLY INVENT A WEAPON STRONG ENOUGH TO SHATTER A DIAMOND. ROSE QUARTZ WOULD POOF AND BUBBLE HER BEFORE SHE COULD TELL ANYONE ELSE. ROSE WOULD TELL NO ONE OF WHAT SHE HAD DONE.**

_Beautiful!_

**EMERALD AND THE OTHER DAMAGED GEMS IN THE INFIRMARY WERE HEALED BY THE TEARS OF ROSE QUARTZ. ALL OF THEM, ALONG WITH SCAPHITE, WOULD CONTINUE TO FIGHT IN THE REBELLION FOR CENTURIES UNTIL THE DIAMONDS RELEASED A VIRUS THAT CORRUPTED ALL BUT A VERY FEW, TURNING THEM INTO BEASIAL MONSTERS FOR 5000 YEARS. BUT THE REMAINING GEMS VOWED TO BUBBLE AND PROTECT THEM UNTIL A CURE COULD BE FOUND.**

**ROSE HAD NOT MANAGED TO SAVE ALL OF ROSEY’S PIECES’ AND WHEN SHE REFORMED SHE WAS MISSING BOTH OF HER LEGS. SHE INSISTED SHE WAS FINE WITH IT, AND REMAINED IN THE HUMAN VILLAGE, CARED FOR BY THEM UP UNTIL THE CORRUPTION OF THE DIAMONDS. ROSEY WAS AMONG THE FIRST GEMS BUBBLED, AND SITS IN THE TEMPLE TO THIS DAY, WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE DAY ROSE WILL SAVE HER ONCE AGAIN.**

_Beautiful!_

**YELLOW AND BLUE DIAMOND, AND THEIR PEARLS, WOULD IMPLANT A TIME BOMB UNDER THE EARTHS CRUST AND ABANDON THE PLANET AFTER BELIEVING THE CRYSTAL GEMS WERE DESTROYED. THIS BOMB WOULD NEVER GO OFF. THERE IS STILL HOPE FOR THE GEMS OF EARTH. BLUE DIAMOND WOULD NEVER LEARN WHO TRULY SHATTERED YELLOW DIAMOND, NOR WOULD ANYONE ELSE.**

_Beautiful!_

**PEARL WOULD KEEP FIGHTING AND VOWED NEVER TO DOUBT ROSE AGAIN, MUCH TO ROSE'S CHARGIN. SHE WOULD STAY BY ROSE’S SIDE EVEN WHEN THE DIAMONDS DESTROYED THE REST OF THE CRYSTAL GEMS AROUND THEM. SHE WOULD STAND BY ROSE FOR 5000 YEARS UNTIL ROSE MADE A CHOICE PEARL WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND. A CHOICE THAT BROKE HER HEART, BUT IN THE END MAY HAVE HEALED HER IN WAYS TEARS NEVER COULD.**

_Beautiful!_

**ROSE QUARTZ BECAME A STRONG, CHARISMATIC LEADER. SHE NEVER LOST SIGHT OF HER DEEPEST IDEALS: THAT GEMS WERE EQUAL. THAT HUMANS AND THE EARTH SHOULD BE PROTECTED. THAT NO ONE DESERVED TO BE SHATTERED. SHE WOULD MOURN MANY GEMS IN HER TIME, AND WOULD HEAL ANYONE SHE COULD, BOTH REBEL AND HOMEWORLD GEM ALIKE. THE HUMANS OF EARTH WOULD SPEAK LEGENDS OF HER FOR MILLENIA TO COME, EVEN AS SHE TOOK HER REMAINING CRYSTAL GEMS TO RETIRE BY A SEASIDE TOWN AND DEDICATED HER LIFE TO PROTECTING THE EARTH AND NURTURING ALL LIFE THERE. SHE WOULD NEVER STOP LOVING PEARL, BUT WOULD TAKE HUMANS LOVERS AS WELL, FROM TIME TO TIME. PEARL INSISTED SHE WAS FINE WITH THIS. SHE LIED.**

**IN 5000 YEARS ROSE WOULD GIVE HER LIFE TO GIVE BIRTH TO A SON BY A HUMAN NAMED GREG UNIVERSE, AND SHE LEARNED WHAT IT IS TO CHANGE.**

_Beautiful!_

            Rose knew, as they ran for the hills, laughing and singing together, that the future was going to be hard. There would probably be no happily ever after for them. But for now, there was a reprieve. For now, there was hope.

_Beautiful!_

            They would know times of peace, in the many centuries to come.

_Beautiful!_

            They would know times of happiness and love.

_Beautiful!_

            And they would know true beauty.

**_ BEAUTIFUL!!! _ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe it's cheesy. Maybe it's too happy. Maybe it's not happy enough. But I think I needed this story to end this way. 
> 
> This was how it should end. I could never kill Pearl. I just... Can't. I need a happy enough ending. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading.
> 
> Special thanks to Master_of_the_Boot1 for being with me since the start of this story and writing beautiful comments on nearly every chapter. She honestly kept me going, and if it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't have gotten halfway through this fic. You deserve kudos, my friend. :)


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